PUBLIC ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL CURRICULA 



A Comparative Study of Representative Cities of 

the United States, England, Germany 

and France 



BY 

BRUCE RYBUKN PAYNE, Ph. D. 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 
ATLANTA DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO 



LBisss 



UBSAHY of G0NG3ESS 
Twu Copies rtixeiveii 

JUN 28 iyU5 

ULASS /? K\C. Mw 

/ /? tos~ 

COPY B. 




Copyright, 1905, by 
SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY. 



PREFACE, 

This study attempts to give an exact description of the sub- 
ject matter and its arrangement in the curricula of public 
elementary schools of certain representative cities in the 
United States, England, Germany and France. Adherence to 
this definite problem led chiefly to a comparative study of the 
actual and relative time assigned to subjects in schools and 
in grades. 

Hearty acknowledgment of indebtedness to the writings, 
lectures and personal suggestions of Dr. Nicholas Murray But- 
ler, Dr. John Dewey, Dr. Charles McMurry, Dr. E. T. Thorn- 
dike, Dr. Paul Monroe, Dr. J. A. McVannel, and Dr. F. M. 
McMurry is hereby made. The influence of the thought of 
these gentlemen will be readily recognized in the following 
pages. Especially serviceable have been the suggestions of 
Dr. Frank M. McMurry, under whose kindly guidance the 
research was pursued for two years. Without his encourage- 
ment it is probable that the arduous task of collecting and 
organizing the material would have been abandoned before it 
reached its present form. 

Space is not allowed for the acknowledgment of the kind- 
ness of many persons who lent valuable assistance in collect- 
ing data for this study. It would be an act of unpardonable 
ingratitude, however, not to record the thanks due Miss Eliza- 
beth Baldwin, Librarian of Teachers College, whose wide 
experience in collecting such material made her peculiarly 
able to give that aid which she so ungrudgingly rendered 
while the source material for this study was being; gathered. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

The sources of information in the study of the American 
elementary schools were the printed syllabi of the Superin- 
tendents of Schools, supplemented and corrected, when the 
case demanded, by the written statements of the Superintend- 
ents themselves, to many of whom I am indebted for such 
kindness. The Reports of the Commissioner of Education 
and personal letters from him and his staff were of valuable 
service. 

The study of the curriculum in the schools of England is 
much more exhaustive than that of the other countries, be- 
cause so little has been printed on the subject in America that 
a more extensive treatment was required. Through the kind- 
ness of Mr. A. E. Twentyman, Assistant Director of Special 
Inquiries and Reports of the Board of Education of England, 
and of Dr. Thistleton Mark, Head of the Department of 
Education at Victoria University, Manchester, there were 
collected seventy-eight syllabi of educators and Inspectors of 
the English Government. These furnished a valuable source 
for research. 

Among other sources of information to be mentioned are : 

(1) The National Union of Teachers' edition of the Code for 1903, 
London ; (2) Statistics of Public Elementary Schools of England for 
1902-1903, Eyre & Spottswood, London; (3) The Provisional Code of 
Regulations for the Public Elementary Schools and Training Colleges, 
Eyre & Spottswood ; (4) Revised Instructions applicable to the Code of 
1902; (5) The Elementary Education Acts for England and Wales from 
1870-1902, London, 1903 ; (6) Reports of the School Board of London to 
July, 1904. 

I am indebted to Gabriel Compayre, Rector of the Acad- 
emy of Lyons, France, for suggestions and references, and for 
a copy of the twelfth edition of his splendid contribution upon 
French Education, "Organisation Pedagogique, et Legisla- 
tion des ficoles Primaries/ ' Paris, 1904, which has furnished 
valuable help in this work. 

L. Bedorez,. Director of Primary Instruction of the Depart- 



PREFACE. 5 

ment of the Seine, likewise, has been ever courteous, sending 
reports of the schools of his department. Among them are: 

(1) Ville de Paris, — Les *ficoles et les Oeuvres Municipales d'En- 
seignement, 1871-1900 ; (2) Reglement des ficoles Maternelles Publiques 
du Departement de la Seine, Paris, 1896; (3) Note sur les fitablisse- 
ments Publics d'Enseignement Primaire a Paris, Dec, 1903; (4) Regie- 
merit pour les ficoles Publiques, Paris, 1899; (5) Arrets No. 4362 Conseil 
du Departement de la Seine, 1898. 

The laws which prescribe the course of instruction for the 
Elementary Schools and Kindergartens of France were taken 
from: 

Plan d'fitude des ficoles Primaires filementaires (Collection Delalain 
No. 65) and from Plan d'fitude des ficoles Maternelles Publiques (Collec- 
tion Delalain No. 66), both by Delalain Freres, Paris, 1904. 

Acknowledgment is most gratefully made to Gymnasialdi- 
rektor Dr. Hugo Lemcke of Stettin, Prussia, who, through his 
experience as a German school official, was able to steer me 
clear of much research which otherwise would have been nec- 
essary. His tireless efforts in collecting and forwarding pro- 
grams and syllabi made the present study of the curriculum 
of German schools possible. 

Other sources are: 

(1) Das offentliche Unterrichtswesen Deutschlands in der Gegenwart 
von Dr. Paul Stotzner, Leipsic, 1901; (2) Grundlehrplan der Berliner 
Gemeindeschule, Berlin, 1902; (3) Allgemeine Bestimmungen des Min- 
isters der geistlischen Angelegenheiten vom 15 Oktober, 1872. 

Besides the foregoing primary sources, the following second- 
ary material has been found serviceable : 

(1) Special Reports on Educational Subjects, eleven volumes, com- 
piled for the Board of Education of England, under the supervision of 
Michael E. Sadler, Director of Special Inquiries and Reports for Great 
Britain (referred to as E. R.) ; (2) Reports of the Commissioner of 
Education of the United States (referred to as C. R.) ; (3) The Making 
of Citizens, — a Study in Comparative Education, by R. E. Hughes, 
Scribners, 1902. This book deals minutely with the educational systems 



6 PREFACE. 

of America, England, Germany and France; (4) Elementary Education 
in France, by T. H. Teegan, 1891; (5) French Schools through American 
Eyes, by J. R. Parsons, 1892; (6) Prussian Schools through American 
Eyes, by J. R. Parsons, (7) Method in the Schools of Germany, by 
J. T. Prince, 1891; (8) The German School System, by Levi Seeley, 
1896, 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
INTEODUCTION .44 11 

CHAPTER I. 

The Cueeiculum of Public Elementary Schools in Cities of 
the United States. 

1. The Subjects of Instruction by Grades in Fifty Cities 

of the United States ...... .19 

2. Time Allotments in the Curricula of Ten Cities of the 

United States 24 

J 3. Average Time Allotments and What They Show . . 37 
/ 4. Analysis of the Various Subjects of Instruction into 

Topics 42 

\§. The Historical Development of the Course of Study in 

Five Cities, Showing the Direction of Growth since 

1868 52 

6. Time Allotment 59 

CHAPTER II. 

The Curriculum of Public Elementary Schools in Cities of 

England. 

1. Administration Relating to the Elementary Curriculum. 63 

2. The Adoption by Schools of the Curriculum Prescribed 

by State 71 

3. Comparison of the English Standard and the Ameri- 

can Grade 76 

4. General Treatment of Subjects by Standards . . 78 

5. Time Allotments of the Various Subjects, with Special 

Attention to Instruction in Religion, Handwork and 
Physical Culture .82 

6. Analysis of the Content of Studies into Topics . . 102 

7. Method of Relief from the Overcrowded Curriculum . 106 

8. Conclusions 107 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

The Curriculum of Public Elementary Schools in Cities op 

Geemany. 

page 

1. Description of the Elementary Schools of Germany . Ill 

2. Length of School Life and the School Knowledge of the 

German Child 114 

3. Overcrowding 118 

4. Uniformity 123 

5. Wealth and Poverty of the German Curriculum . . 132 

6. Conservatism and Changes in Forty Years . . . 139 

7. Physical Education Actually Provided fob . . . 143 

8. Language 144 

9. Religion 146 

10. Arithmetic 148 

11. Realien 149 

12. Correlation 150 

13. Formal vs. Content Studies 150 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Curriculum of Public Elementary Schools of France. 

1. Administration of the Elementary Schools . . . 153 

2. General Laws Relating to the Elementary Schools . 155 

3. The Curriculum and Organization of the Sub-Primary 

Schools and Classes ....... 157 

4. Time Allotments and Subjects Emphasized in the Ele- 

mentary Curriculum 166 

5. The Striking Qualities and the Content of Particular 

Subjects of Instruction 169 

6. Organic Unity in the Course of Study .... 176 

7. The Controlling Influence of the Needs of Society and 

the Demands of the Environment .... 178 

8. Correlation 179 

CHAPTER V. 
Conclusion. 

1. The Two Controlling Standards in the Selection of Sub- 

ject Matter in the Elementary Curriculum . . 181 

2. Conclusions Re-Stated 187 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGS 

3. Time Allotments in the Curricula of Schools of the 

United States, England, Germany and France, Sum- 
marized into One Composite Table .... 193 

4. A Table Summarizing the Elementary Curricula of New 

York, London, Berlin and Paris .... 196 

5. A Suggested Curriculum for Elementary Schools . . 197 



INTRODUCTION 

During the past twenty-five years of the progress of Amer- 
ican education, one of the important problems of yearly re- 
currence has been how to improve the course of study in the 
elementary grades. Such improvement could be made both 
by means of changes in the nature of the subject matter it- 
self, and by the suitable arrangement of the subject matter. 
Consequently, in a comparative study of the curricula of 
the elementary schools of the four progressive nations of the 
world, the United States, England, Germany and France, 
which are dealt with in this work, some of the questions of 
fundamental importance are : (1) What is the nature of the 
content of the curriculum? (2) What are the grades in 
which the various subjects are taught ? (3) How much time 
is allotted to each subject both in the whole course and in each 
grade? (4) What is the relative importance attached to the 
various subjects of instruction by the leading educators of 
the four progressive school systems of the world ? 

Investigation of the four preceding questions ought to 
afford suggestions valuable in the solution of those educa- 
tional problems which are of such pressing importance in 
America. Some of these problems are: (1) How can a 
closer relation in the course of study be secured, which shall 
make of the curriculum a unity rather than a mechanism of 
unrelated sections? (2) What administrative measures may 
be adopted in order to secure a greater uniformity between 
the curricula of different city schools, so that a child in pass- 
ing from one school to the other may not suffer the loss of 

11 



V* INTRODUCTION. 

time and the difficulty of adjusting himself to a radically dif- 
ferent course of study? (3) How may the curriculum of 
the sub-primary school or kindergarten be adjusted to that 
of the primary school? (4) Is the length of the daily school 
session what it should be? (5) Can there be suggested a 
satisfactory system of electives among the studies of the ele- 
mentary school? (6) Can a plan be discovered by which 
Bible instruction may be introduced into the schools of Amer- 
ica without seriously infringing the spirit of our democratic 
institutions? (7) How may the health and physical devel- 
opment of the child be more adequately provided for? To 
contribute something toward the answering of these questions, 
the present research was undertaken. Various other ques- 
tions will be discussed as they are suggested by the data. 
(See pp. 14 and 36.) 

In order to properly present the vast amount of material 
found in the sources from which this study is drawn, it has 
been found necessary to make many brief summaries of the 
most essential facts. To this end sixty-three tables have been 
constructed. These supply to a great extent the data, the 
argument, and the conclusions of the discourse. Indeed, many 
of the tables should be regarded as epitomes of facts which 
are of primary importance in studying the various curricula 
prescribed by the best thinkers in the several progressive 
educational systems of the world. The tabular form is pur- 
sued because of its convenience, and because in this form the 
facts may be readily referred to, both for the present discus- 
sion and for such use as others may make of the data here- 
with correlated, much of which will not be found elsewhere 
in English. 

One of the purposes of this work from its incipiency has 
been to furnish in a usable form such facts about the public 
elementary curricula of the advanced city and state school 
systems of the world as would serve as a basis of comparison 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

to those persons who are responsible for the construction of 
curricula in cities and states of our own country. The facts 
summarized in these tables will suggest numerous questions 
of vital interest to students of the elementary school course of 
study. Such questions and suggestions as are brought up by 
study of these data will for the most part merely be stated 
here, and their further development left for the more preten- 
tious discussions of other students of education. 

The method of treatment pursued in tabulating the in- 
formation is uniform and simple throughout. Each subject 
receives the same number to the left and occupies approxi- 
mately the same position in each table. There are usually 
two tables on each page under one Roman number, the first 
table showing the minutes per week devoted to each subject 
in each grade, together with the percentage of total recitation 
time devoted to each subject, and the table at the bottom of 
the page giving the percentage of recitation time given to 
each subject in each grade. The purpose of this lower table 
of percentages is to afford the opportunity to translate the 
same relative time allotments to any other curriculum, in case 
one should agree to the relative time allotments but, for prac- 
tical reasons, could not consent to the actual time allotments. 
The most important item of the upper table is shown in the 
last column to the right where the percentage of the total 
school time given to any subject is calculated. After the cur- 
ricula of ten cities in each country have been subjected to the 
foregoing analysis, there are two tables given which sum- 
marize the items of the ten (see Tables XII., XIII., XXXVI., 
XXXVII., etc.). These show the average number of minutes 
per week and the average percentage of recitation time de- 
voted to each subject in each grade, together with the relative 
percentage of total time given to each subject in the various 
cities, and the average relative percentage of total time. The 
purpose of these tables is to show the actual content and ar- 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

rangement of the curricula, also the relative importance at- 
tached to each subject by the educators of the United States, 
England, Germany and France, as shown by the actual prac- 
tice. It is believed that such a display reveals a curriculum 
which in many respects differs from that ordinarily pictured 
in educational periodicals. Whether or not we are living up 
to the ideals expressed in current pedagogical literature or, 
in fact, how much the actual ideals of educators or of society 
as a whole are expressed in such literature, is a question upon 
which these tables furnish primary evidence. 

Other tables follow which contain a further analysis of the 
content of the representative subjects into topics. These were 
tabulated for several purposes: (1) To see in what grades 
various topics tend to be taught ; (2) To discover if the much- 
debated subject of correlation is really a fact of school prac- 
tice; (3) To suggest methods of enrichment of the impov- 
erished curriculum or of the relief of the overcrowded curric- 
ulum; (4) To inquire if there may not be an improvement in 
the arrangement of the topics within certain staple subjects 
of elementary instruction. 

Attention is called to the tables showing the historical de- 
velopment of the curricula of five cities of the United States 
and of the curriculum of the Berlin schools. These tables were 
correlated in order to detect the tendencies in the course of 
study. It is worth while to know if we are in reality getting 
away from the formal and abstract; if we are succeeding in 
incorporating into the curriculum of the people's school those 
knowledge studies which may fit more nearly into the needs 
of society and of child experience than the abstract studies. 
This struggle between what are popularly known as the theo- 
retical and the practical studies is one of the ever-present 
problems in American education. 

A distinction must be made between the use of the terms 
11 conclusion' ' and " implication" throughout this work. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

Doubtless few absolute conclusions would be warranted by this 
study. There are many implications, however, to which are to 
be attached merely the significance of suggestions. The ever- 
changing condition of society calls for a dynamic and vari- 
able curriculum. So that while valuable approximations can 
and should be made, positive and final conclusions should be 
avoided. Even if society were static, and if invariability were 
desirable in the curriculum, it would be exceedingly difficult 
to make more than suggestive statements regarding conclu- 
sions reached in a comparative study of the elementary cur- 
ricula of the United States, England, Germany and France. 
There are two reasons for this. First, the task of securing a 
sufficiently large number of facts upon any one principle 
would be a work too great for one person; and second, the 
elimination of so many contingencies would be necessary be- 
fore a common denominator could be discovered which would 
furnish a basis for comparisons such as would warrant abso- 
lute conclusions. One of these contingencies should be men- 
tioned at this point, viz., the different aims of education in the 
four countries. If, for instance, Germany aims at the indus- 
trial citizen as the product of the Volksschule and the man of 
culture as the product of the Progymnasium, it is likely that 
this aim will direct the construction of a curriculum different 
from that found in the United States, where we seek to give 
both training for life and training for college in the same 
elementary school. This and similar exceptions must have 
their weight in deciding what should be considered as a final 
conclusion and what as a valuable suggestion. 

Yet, after all is said, it remains true that the contingencies 
are secondary while the actual facts of the curriculum con- 
stitute our safer criterion of judgment. The aims of education 
in the public elementary schools of the four countries do not 
differ so radically as to dictate a totally different curriculum 
for each. It is to be feared that our educational theorists have 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

sometimes excused themselves from making a comparative 
study of these different curricula by an exaggeration of the 
supposed disparity of aim and the consequent improbability of 
gaining suggestions of worth. The tables on the following 
pages show such a slight difference of curricula in the elemen- 
tary schools of the several countries, that it makes one suspect 
either that the aim of education does not determine what shall 
be studied, or that the aims of the several countries do not 
differ as much as has been supposed. 

Perhaps the latter is the more correct supposition. It is 
pointed out elsewhere that approximately ninety-five per cent 
of the school population in the several countries attend only 
the elementary school, and that the problems of life toward 
the solution of which the elementary curriculum is directed 
are simple ones and largely similar in the four countries dis- 
cussed. This majority of the population who do not attend 
college should, and probably do, exercise the controlling in- 
fluence in the selection of the elementary curriculum. Pos- 
sibly, however, the theorists are to be found in the minority 
group, and hence our belief in the ultra-importance of the 
aim of education rather than of the needs of society. 

This treatise is largely suggestive, but such a comparative 
study of facts as is here attempted is necessary to a real con- 
tribution to the subject of relative worths in the elementary 
curriculum. These are not ' 'paper" curricula, but actual 
courses of study made out for human beings in environments 
much like our own. Such courses will always furnish pri- 
mary source material for any investigation which attempts to 
arrive at either real or ideal conditions in the curriculum of 
the public elementary schools. 

It is unnecessary to say that this study possesses many de- 
fects. The immensity of the field to be covered and the vast- 
ness of the material to be organized have forced other con- 
siderations into the background. Frequently amplifications 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

which seemed absolutely essential had to be abandoned; the 
requirements of acceptable English discourse, in some in- 
stances, may have been violated for the sake of brevity. 
Sometimes, too, scientific method had to be abbreviated, and 
generalizations made upon rather brief inductions. But it is 
hoped that other students who have been hampered by similar 
limitations will be able to make generous allowance for such 
faults. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CURRICULUM OP PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN CITIES 
OP THE UNITED STATES. 

The general knowledge of the average American citizen 
regarding the public elementary school is such as to remove 
the necessity of entering into an exhaustive description of its 
operations. The facts regarding the American elementary 
curriculum are given in this chapter in order to show the 
content and relative importance of subjects as exemplified 
by the practice of American educators. The prominent char- 
acteristics brought out here will afford a basis of comparison 
for the study of the curricula in other countries. Much of the 
comparative and descriptive discourse necessary in later chap- 
ters, will therefore be omitted here. At present our effort 
will be to present in brief form those facts and tendencies of 
the elementary curriculum not generally known. 

1. The Subjects of Instruction oy Grades in Fifty 
Cities of the United States. 

The first study presented of the curricula of the public 
elementary schools of the United States was made from the 
syllabi of the elementary schools of the following fifty cities : 
Boston, New York, Kansas City, Kan., San Francisco, Colum- 
bus, 0., Cleveland, 0., Lowell, Mass., Jersey City, Columbus, 
Ga., New Orleans, Chicago, Knoxville, Tenn., Auburn, N. Y., 
Buffalo, Newark, N. J., Providence, R. L, Louisville, Ky., In- 
dianapolis, Portland, Me., St. Louis, Allegheny, Penn., Joliet, 
111., Springfield, 111., Spokane, Rochester, St. Paul, Minn., 
Minneapolis, Chester, 0., Toledo, 0., Cincinnati, Syracuse, 

19 



20 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Evansville, N. Y., Gloversville, N. Y., Watertown, N. Y. f 
Johnstown, N. Y., Detroit, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Harris- 
burg, Atlantic City, Erie, Penn., Hartford, Wilmington, 
Stockton, Cal., Denver, Aurora, 111., Wilkesbarre, Lewiston, 
Me., Philadelphia, Springfield, Mass., Johnstown, Penn. 

These cities contain a large percentage of the population of 
the United States, and therefore Table I., which is a composite 
table of the subjects of instruction in these cities, might well 
be called the program of studies by grades of the public ele- 
mentary schools of America. The purpose of this table is to 
show the subject matter, and the distribution of that subject 
matter by grades, and to give some hint as to the importance 
attached to the subjects over the country at large. The num- 
bers in the columns will in a measure indicate all three of 
these facts. These numbers represent the number of cities in 
which a given subject is taught within the particular grade 
under which the number is scored. As there are fifty cities 
included in the study, it is evident that a subject receiving a 
score of fifty is taught in all the city schools in that grade in 
which the score is placed. If there is a tendency to teach a 
certain subject in or near a certain grade, then the table 
should show it by presenting a larger score in that grade and 
probably also in the two grades adjoining it. If a certain 
subject is regarded as more important than a certain other 
subject, the table should show this also, by presenting a 
larger total score if the columns are added horizontally. How- 
ever, if a subject were regarded as especially teachable in one 
or two particular grades only, a high score in those particular 
grades should be the standard of measurement of its impor- 
tance. 

This composite table is an attempt to ascertain by summary 
the course of study which in bureaucratic governments is 
prescribed by the central authority. Such courses of study 
are seen in Tables LXI. and XLIV., for France and Germany 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 21 

Table I. — Showing the Grades and the Number of Cities of the 
United States (of the Fifty Cities selected) in which the Various 
Subjects are taught. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


IX. 


1 Opening Exercises 
Morals 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


9 
3 


2 
3 


2 Reading 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


48 


48 


4 




3 Writing 


40 


43 


42 


43 


43 


42 


35 


34 


4 


4 Spelling 


38 


41 


42 


42 


43 


42 


44 


40 


5 


5 Grammar 






7 


10 


20 


32 


41 


41 


10 


6 Language 

7 Composition 


46 


47 


48 


49 


50 


50 


50 


48 


8 


8 Arithmetic 
Algebra 


46 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 

1 


44 
4 


8 
3 


9 Geography 


7 


9 


21 


43 


44 


43 


42 


24 


8 


10 History 


10 


11 


12 


21 


25 


31 


41 


46 


10 


11 Civics 


4 


4 


3 


3 


3 


7 


8 


8 


3 


13 Elementary Science 

14 Nature Study 


32 


34 


32 


30 


27 


22 


24 


22 


4 


15 Physiology 


34 


32 


34 


34 


35 


36 


33 


30 


3 


16 Physical Training 


25 


22 


23 


24 


24 


23 


23 


23 


3 


17 Drawing 


44 


43 


45 


44 


45 


49 


47 


43 


7 


18 Music 


44 


47 


43 


42 


43 


41 


42 


40 


5 


19 Manual Training 


6 


« 


« 


10 


11 


11 


16 


18 


3 


20 Sewing 
Cooking 




1 
1 


6 


10 
1 


11 
2 


8 
4 


6 
6 


1 


21 Bookkeeping 
Stenography 




! 








1 


2 

1 


2 


22 French 


i 










1 




23 German 
Latin 


4 


5 


6 


6 


7 

1 


7 
1 


7 
1 


7 
2 





respectively. In those countries it will be seen that the Min- 
ister of Education on behalf of the State prescribes a course 
of study. 

If our schools were operated in the same way, and the influ- 
ences of the different sections could be embodied in a national 
course of study by the United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion on behalf of the federal government, a course of study 
somewhat like Table I. would constitute the average or pattern 
from which others could be constructed. But there would be 
much greater unity than is to be found in Table I., if it were 
a table prescribed by a central group of experts employed 
by the government. Generally speaking, either all the schools 
would teach a certain subject in a certain grade, or none of 
them would. For instance, the same reason would then re- 



22 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

quire fifty cities to teach arithmetic in the first grade that 
requires forty-six, a principle which does not seem to operate 
in America at present. Unless the authorities of these four 
cities could show valid reasons for omitting the teaching of 
the subject in the grade prescribed, their whim would be over* 
ruled for the welfare of the children. 

The table shows that today, even after all our talk about 
the new education, the "three R's" are in the ascendency. 

Literature is invariably included in the topic language. It 
is also the subject matter of the topic reading in nearly all 
the upper grades. The old reader for the upper grades has 
not survived. In its place is to be found in the upper primary 
grades a splendidly illustrated book of selections from the 
best literature, while literature proper is the reading text 
for the upper grammar grades. 

A very large percentage of these school programs contain 
a topic, memorizing or declamation, which has been omitted 
from the present summary. Gems of literature seem to form 
a staple for memory work under the above topic. One is 
impressed with the enormous amount of memorizing provided 
for in the fifty programs examined. 

Most of the work done under the compound topic, ele- 
mentary science and nature study, is what is termed nature 
study rather than what is known strictly as science. 

Nature study, physiology, drawing and music have all es- 
tablished their right to a place in each grade of the elementary 
school. Even geography, history and manual training have 
not won so firm a position in all the grades as have the four 
former studies. In fact manual training, even when sewing, 
cooking and handwork are added to it, is not taught in so 
many of the fifty cities as nature study. 

It seems to be settled that a foreign language, ancient or 
modern, is not wanted in the elementary school. This is some- 
what remarkable after the vigorous agitation upon the sub- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 23 

ject by college and secondary school men during the past fif- 
teen years. Even the Committee of Fifteen, with the ad- 
vantage of its membership of national educators, seems to 
have had no effect. 

It can be said of but very few subjects of instruction that 
they are peculiarly the property of any certain grade. Rather, 
it seems to be the practice to follow the French plan of teach- 
ing in every grade whatever is taught in any grade. History 
and manual training are perhaps more definitely confined to 
the upper grades than any other subjects. This is particularly 
true when we eliminate from our consideration as history, 
the historical stories which constitute the subject matter of 
history in the primary grades, and from our consideration 
as manual training, the simple handwork of the children in 
the primary grades. 

The discussion of correlation we prefer to defer to another 
section. Yet it is interesting to notice here that correlation 
between history and geography is practically impossible in 
very many American cities, if these fifty cities are in any de- 
gree illustrative. In a large percentage of the schools these 
two subjects are not taught in the same grade, except for 
the seventh grade. This statement is emphasized if it be 
recalled that except for historical stories there is no history in 
the primary grades. It is true that correlation is largely a 
matter of method, but one despairs of discovering how a 
method of correlation can be economically applied when the 
two subjects are taught in different grades. 

History and civics, as such, do not occur in the lower grades. 
The kindred topics which might legitimately be classed under 
those titles are historical stories. In fact, below the fifth 
grade there seems to exist much confusion in the teaching of 
history. It is found under the various captions, history and 
civics, history and literature, historical narratives, historical 
stories, myths and fables, oral history, et cetera, ad infinitum. 



24 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Uniformity of terminology does not always indicate uni- 
formity of content, but certainly one is suspicious in reference 
to the uniformity of content when the terminology is so varied. 
Two tendencies are shown in Table L, which are much be- 
fore the public at present. One of these tendencies is being 
vigorously discussed throughout the country, but it is only 
beginning to exercise an influence on the curriculum; the 
other seems already to have passed the point where ejections 
ever occur. The two subjects in question are moral teaching 
and physical culture. The teaching of morals is receiving a 
definite assignment in a few of the school systems, both under 
the topic, moral culture, and in opening exercises. It has 
begun its definite struggle for a place in our public schools. 
Some states require by law that the subject of moral training 
be taught in every school. This is true of Massachusetts. It 
seems more firmly settled in the public mind, however, 
that the school shall provide for the child a physical training 
to parallel his mental training. The score for physical cul- 
ture is much larger than that for the teaching of morals. 
Evidently the time has already come when a school to be 
called progressive must make provision of some sort for phys- 
ical culture. 

2. Time Allotments in the Curricula of Ten Cities 
of the United States. 

The value attached to a subject of instruction, so far as it 
contributes to the ends of education, and so far as it is re- 
lated in value to other subjects, is measured by the recitation 
time devoted to it. In order to show the value attached to the 
respective studies, a type study has been made of the time 
allotments to the various subjects of instruction in the ele- 
mentary schools of ten American cities, viz., New York, Bos- 
ton, Chicago, Cleveland, O., San Francisco, Columbus, Ga., 
jjopisyille, Jersey City, New Orleans, and Kansas City, Kan. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 25 

The ten double tables (II.-XL), taken from syllabi of in- 
struction in the public elementary schools of these cities, show 
the number of minutes per week and the percentage of time 
per week assigned to each subject in each grade. They also 
show the percentage of the recitation time given to each sub- 
ject in the entire eight year course, which is perhaps the best 
standard of measure of relative importance. 

The standards employed in selecting these ten cities were 
(1) their geographical distribution over the country at large, 
and (2) their value as types. Preference was given to larger 
cities whose schools were typical of the section of country in 
which they are located, but certain smaller cities were in- 
cluded in order to present both aspects of the city course of 
study. In this way it is hoped that there has been secured, in 
the two general average tables (XII. and XIII.) which imme- 
diately follow the ten city tables, an average time allotment, 
representing neither the ultra-radical nor the over-conserva- 
tive, but rather the present practice of America as a whole 
in the public elementary schools. It is believed that these per- 
centages represent the best thought in our country upon the 
relative values of the different subjects. 

It has been thought best not to group the different subjects 
of instruction under a few headings, as has been the unbroken 
custom of other writers upon this subject in America. Such 
a grouping destroys the value of the table. No superintendent 
or supervisor is called upon to make out a curriculum of a 
group of studies, but a curriculum of individual studies. He 
needs to know the relative time allotted to each study, and 
not to a certain group. 

The material was compiled either from courses of study 
furnished by different superintendents, or from tables worked 
out by them and sent to me. The subjects are given without 
omissions, just as they were given to me, but are arranged in 
uniform order. 



26 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table II. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of New York 
City. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


1 75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


5.77 


3 Writing 


100 


125 


125 


75 


75 


75i 




5.53 


6 Language 1 


450 


510 


450 


375 


375 


375 


360 


320 


30.9 


8 Arithmetic 3 


120 


150 


150 


150 


150 


200 


200 


160 


12 


9 Geography 






135 


120 


120 


80 




4.38 


10 History* 




1 




90 


120 


120 


120 


4.33 


13 Elementary Science 










80 


80 


1.54 


14 Nature Study 


90 


90 


90 


90 


75 








4.19 


15 Physiology, 

16 Physical Training, 

Organized Games, 
Play 


200 


165 


165 


165 


90 


90 


90 


90 


10 


17 Drawing and Con- 
structive Work 


160 


160 


160 


120 


120 


120 


80 


80 


9.62 


IS Music 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60| 4.62 


19 Manual Training, 
Cooking 














80 


80 


1.94 


20 Sewing and Con- 
structive Work 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 






3.47 


23 German, French, 
Stenography, Latin 
















200 


1.93 


Total Recitations 


1315 


1395 


1335 


1305 


1290 


1295 


1225 


1265 




Total Assignments 


1500| U 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 




Percentage of Recita 


tion 
G 


Time 
rrade 


devo 
per "\ 


ted t 
Veek. 


o Ea 


ch Subject in Each 


1 Opening Exercises 


5.7 


5.2 


5.6 


5.7 


5.8 


5.8 


6.2 


6 




2 Writing 


7.6 


8.9 


9.3 


5.7 


5.8 


5.8 








6 Language 


34.2 


36.5 


33.7 


28.5 


29.1 


29 


27.5 


25.4 




8 Arithmetic 


91 


10.7 


11.2 


8 


11.7 


15.5 


16.4 


12.7 




9 Geography 




1 


10.3 


9.3 


6.6 








10 History 




1 




6.9 


9.3 


9.9 


9.9 




13 Elementary Science 




1 




1 


6.6 


6.4 




14 iSature Study 


6.8 


6.4 


6.7 


6.8 


5.8| 








15 & 16 Physical 
Training 


15.2 


11.8 


12.3 


12.5 


6.9 


6.9 


7.4 


7.2 




17 Drawing, etc. 


12.1 


11.4 


11.9 


9.1 


9.3 


9.3 


6.6 


6.4 1 


18 Music 


4.5 


4.3 


4.5 


4.5 


4.7 


4.7 


5 


4.8 


19 Manual Training 


| 6.6 


6.4 




20 Sewing, etc. 


4.5 


4.3 


4.5 


4.5 


4.7 


4.7 








23 German, etc. 


1 


15.9 





includes language lessons, grammar, composition, reading, spelling, mem- 
orizing. 

includes civics in Grades VI, VII and VIII. 

Arithmetic in all grades, with a little algebra in Grades VII and VIII. 

♦The term "total time" as used throughout these pages refers to all of the 
recitation time assigned either in the entire school or an entire grade. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 27 

Table III. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Boston, Mass. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


IX. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exer- 
cises 


60 


60 


60 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


2.9 


2 Reading 


600 


500 


500 


240 


240 


240 


210 


180 


180 1 23.3 


3 Writing 


1 








4 Spelling 


120 


105 


80 






1 






2.4 


6 Language 


200 


200 


200 


300 


300 


270 


240 


240 


255 


18 


8 Arithmetic 


150 


210 


210 


270 


270 


270 


210 


210 


210 


16.2 


9 Geography 








120 


120 


150 


150 


150 


? 


5.5 


10 History 1 


1 


1 




120 


150 


180 


3.63 


13 Elementary 
Science 2 








90 


90 


90 


90 


90 


120 


4.5 


It? Physical 

Training 


60 


90 


90 


80 


80 


80 


80 


80 


80 


6 


17 Drawing 


100 


150 


150 


90 


90 


90 


90 


90 


90 


7.1 


18 Music 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


4.3 


19 Manual Train- 
ing 








120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


5.8 


21 Bookkeeping 




I 1 








75 


.61 


Play 


150 


150 


150 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 




Total Recitations 


1350 


1375 


1350 


1400 


1400 


1400 


1400 


1400 


1400 




Total Assignments 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500| 1500| 


Percentage of 


Recit 


ation 


Time 


) devc 


>ted t 


o Eac 


h Grj 


ide per Week. 


1 Opening Exer- 
cises 


4.5 


4.5 


4.5 


2.1 


2.1 


2.1 


2.1 


2.1 


2.1 




2 Reading & Lit- 
erature 


4.4 


37.1 


37.1 


17.1 


17.1 


17.1 


15.1 


12.9 


12.9| 


4 Spelling 


8.9 


7.8 


6 










1 


6 Language 


14.8 


14.8 


14.8 


21.3 


21.3 


19.3 


17.1 


17.1 


18.2| 


8 Arithmetic 


11.1 


15.6 


15.6 


19.3 


19.3 


19.3 


15.1 


15.1 


15. 1| 


9 Geography 




8.5 


8.6 


10.8 


10.8 


10.8 


V 1 


10 History 






8.5 


8.5 


12.9 




13 Elementary 
Science 








6.3 


6.3 


6.3 


6.3 


6.3 


8.5 




16 Physical 

Training 


4.5 


6.7 


6.7 


5.7 


5.7 


5.7 


5.7 


5.7 


5.7 




17 Drawing 


7.4 


11.1 


11.1 


6.4 


6.4 


6.4 


6.4 


6.4 


6.4 




18 Music 


4.5 


4.5 


4.5 


4.1 


4.1 


4.1 


4.1 


4.1 


4.1 




19 Manual Train- 
ing 








8.5 


8.5 


8.5 


8.5 


8.5 


8.5 




21 Bookkeeping 














5.3 




Play 


11.1 


11.1 


7.1 


7.1 


7.1 


7.1 


7.1 


7.1 


7.1 



includes civil government in Grade IX. 
includes physiology. 



28 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table IV. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Chicago, 111. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


25 1 


25 


25 


25 


25 


25 


25 


25 


1.66 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


675 1 


600 


500 


250 


250 1 1 




18.8 


3 Writing 


75| 


7o 


100 


100 


60 


60 


60 


60 


4.88 


4 Spelling 


1 


50 


50 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


3.31 


5 Grammar 


1 


120 


160 


160 


3.72 


6 Language 


150| 


115 


100 


65 


65 


145 


175 


175 


8.19 


S ^.ritnmetic 


225| 


225 


300 


300 


300 


300 


300 


300 


18.6 


9 Geography 


1 1 


200 


250 


200 


90 




6.12 


-t) History 2 


1 i 


60 


60 


60 


200 


200 


4.79 


i-i Nature (Study 3 


100 1 


100 


100 


100 


90 


90 


90 


90 


6.28 


10 l'oysical Training 


50 1 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


3.31 


17 Drawing 


1 


60 


75 


90 


90 


90 


90 


90 


4.84 


18 Music 


75| 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75| 4.96 


19 Manual Training 


! 




1 




90 


90| 1.49 


Play 


125| 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 




23 German or Latin 


| | 300 


300 


300 


300 


9.92 


Total Recitations 


1375| 


1375 


1375 


1375| 1675 


1575 


1765 


1675| 


Total Assignments 


1500| 


1500 


1500| 1500 


1800 


17001 1890 


1800| 


Percentage of Recita 


tion Time 
Grade 


devoted to Ea 
per Week. 


ch Subject in Each 


1 Opening Exercises 


1.8| 


1.8 


1.8 


1.8 


1.5 


1.6 


1.4 


1.5| 


' 2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


49.3| 


43.8 


36.5 


18.3 


14.9 






1 


3 Writing 


5.5 1 


5.5 


7.3 


7.3 


3.6 


3.9 


3.4 


3.6| 


4 Spelling 


1 


3.7 


3.7 


4.4 


3.6 


3.9 


3.4 


3.6| 


5 Grammar 


1 ! 






7.7 


9.1 


9.6| 


6 Language 


10.9 1 


8.4 


7.3 


4.8 


3.9 


9.2 


9.9 


10.5| 


8 Arithmetic 


16.4 1 


16.4 


21.9 


21.9 


17.9 


19.1 


17.1 


18 | 


9 Geography 


1 


14.6 


14.9 


12.8 


5.1 


1 


10 History 


1 


4.4 


3.6 


3.9 


11.4 


12 | 


14 Nature Study 


7.3j 


7.3 


7.3 


7.3 


5.4 


5.7 


5.1 


5.4 1 


16 Physical Training 


3.7| 


3.7 


3.7 


3.7 


2.1 


3.2 


2.8 


3 I 


17 Drawing 


1 


4.4 


5.5 


5.4 


5.7 


5.1 


5.4 


1 


18 Music 


3.5| 


3.5 


3.5 


3.5 


4.5 


4.8 


4.3 


4.5J 


19 Manual Training 


1 




| 5.1 


5.4 1 


23 German or Latin 


1 1 1 


17.9 


19.1 


17.1 


18 | 


Play 


9.1| 


9.1 


9.1 


9.1 


7.5 


8 


7.1 


7.5| 



^Algebra added in Grade VIII. 

includes civics in Grades VII and VIII. 

includes physiology in Grades VI, VII, and VIII. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 29 



Table V. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of New Orleans. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


200 1 


200 1 225 


225 


120 


120 


200 


200 


13.4 


3 Writing 


90 1 


90 1 100 


60 


60 


00 




! 4.15 


4 Spelling 


75| 


75| 100 


100 


110 


110 


90 


90| 6.77 


6 Language 


250| 


250 | 288 


300 


350 


350 


350 


350122.36 


7 Composition 


1 


1 




30 


30 


30 


30| 1 


8 Arithmetic 


205| 


205 | 240 


240 


250 


250 


250 


250|18.6 


9 Geography 


100| 


100| 15'! 


200 


110 


110 


110 


110| 8.94 


10 History 


50| 


50| 50 


50 


140 


140 


140 


140| 0.77 


14 Nature Study 


00 1 


00 1 80 


60 


00 


60 


60 


60| 4.5 


15 Physiology 


15| 


15| 20 


20 


30 


30 


30 


30| 1.72 


It; Physical Training 


50 1 


50| 50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50| 3.61 


17 Drawing 


00 1 


00 1 00 


60 


55 


55 


55 


55| 4.15 


18 Music 


00| 


00 1 60 


60 


00 


60 


60 


60| 4.33 


Total Recitations 


1275| 


1275| 1425 


1425 


1425 


1425 


1425 


1425| 


Percentage of Recit* 


ition Time devoted 
Grade per Week. 


to Each Subject in Each 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


15.6| 


15.6 


15.8 


15.8 


8.4 


8.4 


14 


14 




3 Writing 


7 1 


7 


7 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 








4 Spelling 


5.8| 


5.8 


7 


7 


7.7 


7.7 


6.3 


6.3 




6 Language 


19.5| 


19.5 


20.1 


21 


24.5 


24.5 


24.5 


24.5 




7 Composition 








2.1 


2.1 


2.1 


2.1 




8 Arithmetic 


20.0| 


20.0 


16.8 


16.8 


17.5 


17.5 


17.5 


17.5 




9 Geography 


7.8 1 


7.8| 10.6 


14 


7.7 


7.7 


7.7 


7.7 




10 History 


3.9j 


3.9| 3.5 


3.5 


9.8 


9.8 


9.8 


98 




14 Nature Study 


4.6| 


4.6| 5.6 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 




15 Physiology 


1.11 


1.1| 1.4 


1.4 


2.1 


1 JU 


1 *.l 


2.1| 


16 Physical Training 


3.9| 


3.9| 3.5 


3.5 


3.5 


3.5 


3.5 


35| 


17 Drawing 


4.6| 


4.6| 4.2 


4.2 


3.8 


| 3.8 


3.8 


3 8| 


18 Music 


4.6| 


4.6| 4.2 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2 


4.2| 



x Algebra added in Grade VIII. 



30 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table VI. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of San Francisco. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


75 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


4.4 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


350 


350 


300 


275 


250 


160 


135 


135 


20.2 


3 Writing 


100 


75 


75 


75 


75 


45 


45 




5.1 


4 Spelling 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


75 


75 


50 


7.2 


6 Language 


150 


150 


150 


150 


175 


175 


175 


200 


13.7 


8 Arithmetic 




150 


ZOO 


225 


225 


225 


225 


225 


15.3 


9 Geography 






80 


80 


100 


135 


135 


135 


€.9 


10 History 






30 


30 


30 


110 


160 


200 


6.6 


14 Nature Study 


50 


25 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


3.9 


16 Physical Training 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


4.1 


17 Drawing 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


5 


18 Music 


75 


75 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


5.3 


19 Manual Training 




1 








60 


60 


1.2 


20 Sewing 




1 


50 


60 


60 


60 




2.4 


21 Cooking 




| 60 


.62 


Play 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 




Total Recitations 


1010 


1085 


1175 


1255 


1285 


1265 


1340 


1333| 


Total Assignments 


1300 


1300 


1350 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500| 


Percentage of Recite 


ition 
C 


Time devoted 
rrade per Week 


to Each Subject in Each 


1 Opening Exercises 


7.5 


4.5 


4.3 


3.7 


4 


4 


3.7 


3.7 




2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


34.2 


32.2 


26.1 


20.4 


19.5 


12.7 


10 


10 




3 Writing 


10 


6.8 


6.5 


5.6 


5.6 


3.6 


3.8 






4 Spelling 


10 


9.2 


8.7 


7.4 


7.8 


6 


5.6 


3.7 




6 Language 


14.9 


13.5 


13.1 


11.1 


13.6 


13.8 


13.2 


15 




8 Arithmetic 




13.5 


17.4 


16.7 


17.5 


17.8 


16.9 


16.9 




9 Geography 


1 


7 


« 


7.8 


10.6 


10.5 


10 




10 History 






2.2 


2.3 


9.5 


12.9 


15 




14 Nature Study 


5 


4.5 


2.1 


3.7 


4 


4 


3.7 


3.7 




16 Physical Training 


5 


4.5 


4.3 


3.7 


4 


3.9 


3.7 


3.7 




17 Drawing 


6 


5.4 


5.2 


4.5 


4.6 


4.7 


4.5 


4.5 




18 Music 


7.5 


6.8 


5.2 


4.5 


4.6 


4.7 


4.5 


4.5 




19 Manual Training 














4.5 


4.5 




20 Sewing 








3.7 


4.6 


4.7 


4.5 






21 Cooking 
















4.5 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 31 

Table VII. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Kansas City, 
Kan. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


150 


150 


1 

100 


125 


| 125 


1 

125 


125 


| 120 


14.5 


3 Writing 


125 


100 


100 


120 


| 120 


120| 


1 


9.66 


4 Spelling 


75 


150 


100 


100 


| 100 


100 


I 75 


| 50 


10.7 


6 Language 


70 


100 


105 


100 


| 100 


100 


125 


| 150 


11.2 


8 Arithmetic 


150 


75 


200 


125 


125 


125 


| 125 


| 150 


15.1 


9 Geography 


10 


20 


20 


100 


100 


100 


125 


| 60 


7.54 


10 History 






30 


30 


30 


100| 120| 4.38 


11 Civil Government 


1 




1 


30 


25 


1 30! 


14 Nature Study 


20 


25 


25 


30 


30 


30 


30 1 30 1 3.11 


16 Physical Training 


10| 








17 Drawing 


100 


100 


100 


120 


120 


90 


90 


90 11.5 


18 Music 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


75 


75|10.6 


Total Recitations 


810 


820 


850 


950 


950 


950 


895 1 8751 


Percentage of Recita 


tion Time 
Grade 


devoted to Each Subject in Each 
per Week. 


2 Reading & Litera- 
ture 


18.5 


18.4 


11.8 


13.2 


13.2 


13.2 


14 


13.8 




3 Writing 


15.4 


12.2 


11.6 


12.6 


12.6 


12.6 






4 Spelling 


9.2 


18.4 


11.8 


10.5 


10.5 


10.5 


8.4 


5.7 




6 Language 


8.5 


12.1 


12.5 


10.5 


10.5 


10.5 


14 


17.2 




8 Arithmetic 


18.5 


9.1 


23.6 


13.2 


13.2 


13.2 


14 


17 




9 Geography 


1.2 


2.4 


2.4 


10.2 


10.5 


13.2 


14 


6.8 




10 History 






| 3.1 


3.1 


3.1 


11.2 


13.8 




11 Civil Government 






1 




3.1 


2.8 


3.4 




14 Nature Study 


2.4 


3 


2.9 


3.1 


3.1 


3.3 


3.4 


3.4 




16 Physical Training 


1.2 




1 












17 Drawing 


12.3 


12.2 


11 


10.5 


10.5 


13.2 


8.4 


8.6 




18 Music 


12.3 


12.2 


11.8 


10.5 


10.5 


13.2 


8.4 


8.6 





32 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table VIII. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Jersey City. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 opening Exercises 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 1 3.74 


2 Reading 


560 


560 


450 


405 


370 


310 


280 


270|30 


3 Writing 


100 


100 


100 


100 


90 


90 


70 


85| 6.86 


5 & 6 Language & 
Grammar 


125 


125 


125 


160 


180 


190 


230 


260 


10.3 


8 Arithmetic 


225 


245 


270 


280 


270 


270 


270 


270 


19.5 


9 Geography 




80 


100 


125 


145 


145 


130 


6.78 


IU History 




1 




60 


90 


100 


137 


3.62 


14 Nature Study 


30 


30 


40 


40 


45 


45 


45 


52 


3 


15 Physiology 


20 


20 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


2 


16 Physical Training 


155 


135 


120 


100 


50 


50 


50 


50 




17 Drawing 


80 


80 


80 


80 


90 


90 


90 


90 


6.86 


18 Music 


60 


60 


60 


60 


45 


45 


45 


45 


3.93 


Morals & Manners 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20| 1.5 


Total Recitations 


1270 


1290 


13051 1325 


1375 


1375 


1375 


1439| 


Total Assignments 


1425 


1425 


1425| 1425 


1425 


1425 


1425 


1489| 


Percentage of Recita 


tion 
C 


Time 
rrade 


devoted to Each Subject in Each 
per Week. 


1 Opening Exercises 


4 


3.9 


3.8 


3.8 


3.7 


3.7 


3.7 


3.5| 


2 Reading 


44.1 


43.4 


34 


30 


27 


22.7 


20.5 


18.9| 


3 Writing 


7.9 


7.8 


7.7 


7.6 


6.6 


6.6 


6.6 


6.3| 


5 Grammar & Language 


9.9 


9.7 


9.6 


12 


13.2 


13.9 


16.8 


18.2| 


8 Arithmetic 


17.7 


19 


20 


21.3 


19.7 


19.7 


19.7 


18.9| 


9 Geography 




6.2 


7.6 


9.1 


10.6 


10.6 


9.1| 


10 History 


! 






4.4 


6.6 


7.3 


9.6| 


14 Nature Study 


2.4 


2.4 


3 


3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.7 




15 Physiology 


1.6 


1.6 


2.3 


2.3 


2.2 


2.2 


2.2 


2.1 




16 Physical Training 


11 


9.5 


8.5 


7.1 


5 


5 


5 


3.4 1 


It Drawing 


6.3 


6.3 


6.2 


6.1 


6.6 


6.6 


6.6 


6.3 




18 Music 


4.8 


4.7 


4.6 


4.6 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.2 




Morals & Manners 


1.6 


1.6 


1.5 


1.5 


1.5 


1.5 


1.5 


1.4 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 33 

Table IX. — Minutes of Recitation Time per week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Columbus, 
Georgia. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


75| 75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


5.18 


2 Reading 


500| 300 


300 


240 


240 


200 


90 


60 


16.7 


3 Writing 


75 1 75 


100| 100 


60 


60 


40 


30 


4.11 


4 Spelling 


100| 150 


140| 120 


120 


100 


60 


30 


6.38 


6 Language 


200 


220 


220| 250 


300 


300 


300 


300 


18.1 


8 Arithmetic 


225 


225 


275 1 300 


300 


325 


300 


205 


18.6 


Algebra 




1 






220 


1.9 


9 Geography 




80 


200 | 225 


250 


285 


200 




10.7 


10 History 




1 






250 


180 


3.71 


17 Drawing 


60 1 


60 1 60 


75 


75 


65 


40 


4.27 


18 Music 


70 1 70 


70 1 70 


70 


70 


60 


60 


4.34 


19 Manual Training 


45 1 45 


60 1 60 


60 


60 


90 


90 


4.47 


24 Latin 


1 






230 


2. 


Play 


200 1 200 


200 1 200 


150 


150 


150 


150 




Total Assignments 


1350| 1350 


1500| 1500 


1550 


1550| 1530| 1520 




Percentage of Recita 


tion Time 
Grade 


devoted to Ea 
per Week. 


ch Subject in 


Each 


1 Opening Exercises 


5.6 | 5.6 


5. 


5. 


4.9 


4.9 


5. 


5. ! 


2 Reading 


37.1 


22.2 


20. 


16.1 


15.3 


13. 


5.9 


4- 


3 Writing 


5.6 


5.6 


6.6 


6.67 


3.9 


3.9 


2.6 


2.1 | 


4 Spelling 


7.4 11.1 


9.3 


8.1 


7.8 


6.5 


3.9 


2.1 | 


6 Language 


14.8 |3 6.3 


14.6 


17.1 


19.4 


19.4 


19.6 


20. | 


8 Arithmetic 


16.7 |20.4 


18.2 


20. 


19.4 


21. 


19.6 


13.5 | 


Algebra 










4.5 | 


9 Geography 


| 5.9 


13.3 


15.7 


16.1 


18.4 


13.1 


1 


10 History 








16.4 


12. 


1 


17 Drawing 


4.5 | 4.5 


4. 


4. 


4.9 


4.9 


4.3 


2.8 | 


18 Music 


5.2 | 5.2 


4.7 


4.7 


4.5 


4.5 


3.9 


4. | 


19 Manual Training 


3.4 | 3.4 


4. 


4. 


3.9 


3.9 


3.9 


6. | 


24 Latin 












15. | 


Play 


12.9 |12.9 


11.7 


11.8 


7.83 


8.82 


8.84 


9. 



34 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table X. — Minutes of Recitation Time per week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Louisville, Ky. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


25 


20 


2o 


25 


25 


25 


25 


25 1.93 


2 Reading and Lit- 
erature 


500 1 


500 


425 


335 


230 


155 


150 


150 23.5 


3 Writing 


50 


100 


100 


90 


70 


70| 


| 4.62 


4 Spelling 




100 


100 


100 


75 


75 


75 


75| 5.77 


5 Grammar 


1 






150 


150| 2.89 


6 Language 


100 


220 


250 


150 




1 


| 6.93 


7 Composition 


1 


150 


150 


135 


135| 5.49 


8 Arithmetic 


100 


205 


250 


250 


250 


250 


240 


240|17.2 


9 Geography 








200 


220 


220 


200 


185| 9.86 


10 History 












125 


150 


150| 4. 


14 Nature Study 










75 


75 


60 


75 1 2.75 


15 Physiology 










40 


40 




1 ra 


16 Physical Training 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 






| 2.41 


17 Drawing 


75 


75 


75 


75 


90 


90 


90 


90| 6.35 


18 Music 


50 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 


75 1 5.53 


Play 


100 


150 


150 


150 


150 


150 


150 


150| 


Total Assignments 


950 


1350 


1350 


1350 


1350 


1350 


1350 


1350| 


Percentage of Recita 


tion 
C 


Time 
rrade 


devoted to Each Subject in Each 
per Week. 


1 Opening Exercises 


2.7 


1.9 


1.9 


1.9 


1.9 


1.9 


1.9 


1.9| 


2 Reading and Lit- 
erature 


52.7 


37.1 


31.5 


24.8 


17.1 


11.1 


,1.1 


11.1 




3 Writing 


3.3 


7.4 


7.4 


6.7| 5.2| 5.2| 




4 Spelling 




7.4 


7.4 


7.4 


5.6 


5.6 


5.6 


5.6 




5 Grammar 






11.1 


11.1 




6 Language 


10.6 


16.3 


18.5 


11.1| 


1 








7 Composition 










| 11.1 


| 11.1 


10. 


10. 




8 Arithmetic 


10.6 


15.2 


18.5 


| 18.5| 18.5 


| 18.5 


17.8 


| 17.8 




9 Geography 








| 14.8 1 16.3 


| 16.3 


14.8 


| 13.7 




10 History 












9.3 


11.1 


| 11.1 




14 Nature Study 








1 


I 5.6| 


4.5 


5.6 




16 Pnysical Training 


5.3 


3.7 


3.7 


| 3.7 


1 


1 


1 






17 Drawing 


7.9 


5.6 


5.6 


5.6| 6.7| 6.7 


6.7 


6.7 




18 Music 


5.3 


5.6 


5.6 


5.6 


5.6| 5.6 


| 5.6 


5.6 




Play 


10. 


10. 


10. 


| 10. 


| 10. 


| 10. 


| 10. 


| 10. 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 35 

Table XI. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time given to 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Cleveland, 0. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exercises 


25 


25 


25 


25 1 25 


25 


25 


25 


1.76 


2 Reading and Lit- 
erature 


550 


530 


525 


335 1 195 


195 


210 


210 


25. 


3 Writing 


75 


105 


125 


90| 70 


70 


70| 


5.43 


4 Spelling 




125 


100 


125 1 75 


75 


75| 


45 


5.6 


6 Language 


125 


155 


135 


125 1 290 


290 


250 


270 


14.7 


8 Arithmetic 


150 


155 


225 


250 1 270 


270 


300 


300 


17.2 


9 Geography 


200 1 245 


245 






6.22 


10 History | 




160 j 


175 


3. 


13 Elementary Science 


till 




80 


80 


1.45 


15 Physiology 


20 


2o 


25 


25| 40 


40 


40 


40 


2.3 


16 Physical Training 


50 


50 


50 


50| 50 


50 


50 


40 


3.52 


17 Drawing 


60 


80 


60 


65 1 70 


70 


70 


85 


5. 


18 Music 


60 


75 


60 


65 1 70 


70 


70 


75 


4.91 


19 Manual Training 


60 


80 


70 


45| 


1 


2.3 


21 Bookkeeping 


1 


1 


| 50 


.45 


Play 


25 


100 


100 


100 1 100 


100 


100 


100 




Total Assignments 


1175 


1400 


1400 


| 1400| 1400| 1400 1400| 1400 




Percentage of Recita 


tion Time devc 
Grade per 1 


ted to Each Subject in 
Week. 


Each 


1 Opening Exercises 


2.2 


1.81 


1.81 


1.43| 1.7 


1.7 


1.43 


1.7 




2 Reading and Lit- 
erature 


47.3 


38.1 


37.4 


23.9 


13.4 


13.4 


14.6 


14.6 1 


3 Writing 


6.4 


7.5 


8.9 


6.4 | 4.8 


4.8 


5. 






4 Spelling 


8.9 


1 7.1 


| 8.9 | 5.2 


5.2 


5.3 


3.1 




6 Language 


10.7 


11.1 


| 9.6 


| 8.9 |20 


|20 


18 


19.4 




8 Arithmetic 


|12.9 


|11.1 


|16 


|18 |18.5 


|18.5 


21.5 


21.5 




9 Geography 


|14.5 |16.8 |16.8 








10 History | 


III! 


12.1 


12.6 




13 Elementary Science | 


1 1 




5.3 


5.3 




15 Physiology 


1.7 


| 1.8 


| 1.8 


| 1.8 


2.8 


2.8 


2.8 


2.8 




16 Physical Training 


4.3 


3.5 


| 3.6 


| 3.6 


3.4 


3.4 


3.6 


2.8 




17 Drawing 


5.2 


| 5.7 


| 4.2 


1 4.7 


4.8 


4.8 


5 


6.1 




18 Music 


| 5.2 


| 5.3 


| 4.2 


1 4.7 


4.8 


1 4.8 


5 


5.4 




19 Manual Training 


| 5.2 


| 5.7 


1 5 


| 3.2 










21 Bookkeeping 


1 1 






3.5 




Play 


1 * 


| 6.6 


| 6.6 


| 6.4 


6.4 


| 6.4 


6.6 


6.5 





36 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

In the tables II.-XI. (pages 26-36), the minutes per week de- 
voted to each subject in each grade are given first. The last 
column to the right in each table shows the percentage of total 
time allotted to each subject in the whole of the eight year ele- 
mentary course. In other words, it shows the relative impor- 
tance which a subject holds in the curriculum by virtue of the 
time allotted to it, in comparison with that assigned to other 
subjects. Just beneath this first table on each page is a second 
one showing the percentage of time devoted to each subject in 
each grade. In the former case the total recitation time in the 
entire elementary school is used as a basis of calculation; in 
the latter the total recitation time of the respective grade is 
used. For instance, the 12 per cent of total recitation time 
for arithmetic, appearing in the last column to the right in 
the upper half of Table II., was calculated by using the sum 
of the figures in the horizontal column marked ' ' Arithmetic ' ' 
as a dividend, and the sum of the horizontal column marked 
" Total Recitation" as a divisor. The 9.1 per cent of recita- 
tion time devoted to arithmetic in the first grade, as it appears 
in the lower half of Table II., was calculated by using the one 
hundred and twenty minutes of first grade recitation time as- 
signed to arithmetic in the upper half of the table as a divi- 
dend and 1315 minutes of total first grade weekly recitation 
time as a divisor. 

Some of the questions which one naturally asks of such 
tables, displaying the time allotted to the various subjects of 
instruction in the elementary school curriculum, are : 

Should provision be made for teaching every subject in 
every grade, such as is commonly made for teaching arithme- 
tic and language in all grades from the first to the eighth ? 

Should there be a uniform increase or decrease of time 
from the first grade onward? 

Should there be fewer minutes per week of recitation time 
in the earlier grades, or should the time be somewhat equally 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 37 

distributed to all grades, and the quantity of intellectual work 
and handwork vary instead ? 

Should the average number of minutes per week of recita- 
tion time approximate one thousand or one thousand and five 
hundred ? 

Is there good reason why arithmetic and grammar should 
be taught in tne earlier grades, while history, literature, geog- 
raphy, etc., should not be taught? 

Does the curriculum provide for the aesthetic, the volitional, 
the emotional, the physical, the moral, as well as the intellec- 
tual aspects of the child's mind and experience? 

Are there subjects which are not needed in the life of the 
average citizen, or do such subjects monopolize the recitation 
time to the exclusion of others that do clearly fit certain social 
needs of people in general? 

Is there provision for the interests of the child? 

What is the relative proportion of desk work to physically 
active work required by the curriculum? 

The answers that are being given to these questions in per- 
haps the majority of American schools are illustrated in the 
ten preceding tables. The answers that other progressive 
cities in other parts of the world are giving will be found in 
later chapters. The development of these answers will con- 
stitute the task of this entire study.* 

3. Average Time Allotments and What They Show. 

The two following tables, XII. and XIII., afford a basis 
for comparing the previous ten tables. This comparison pre- 
sents certain representative suggestions as to the attempts of 

♦They are only stated in the outset that the reader may not miss the 
purpose of the rather exhaustive tabulations which are pursued in the 
course of this investigation. If any question does not appear to be answered 
as fully as the reader may desire in the discussion, a casual reference to 
the tables will doubtless offer the more complete Information sought. Fre- 
quently facts have not been repeated in the body of the discussion which 
are more graphically shown in the tabular form. 



38 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



American educators to solve some of the problems which have 
so far been pointed out in these pages. 

Table XII. — Showing the Average Time in Minutes per Week given 
to Each Subject in Each Grade in Ten American Cities. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


1 Opening Exercises 


43 


43 


43 


40 


40 


40 


40 


40 


2 Reading and Literature 


443 


404 


367 


373 


232 


160 


142 


129 


3 Writing 


80 


78 


91 


79 


62 


62 


28 


22 


4 Spelling 


47 


90 


81 


73 


67 


62 


44 


33 


5 Grammar 

6 Language and 

7 Composition 


130 


146 


144 


158 


176 


224 


254 


256 


8 Arithmetic 


161 


195 


232 


239 


241 


249 


242 


231 


9 Geography 


11 


20 


53 


156 


164 


150 


127 


81 


10 History and 

11 Civil Government 


5 


5 


5 


17 


41 


171 


152 


160 


13 Elementary Science and 

14 Nature Study 


35 


35 


34 


46 


51 


44 


58 


49 


15 Physiology 


7 


7 


8 


« 


13 


13 


8 


8 


16 Physical Training 


52 


49 


50 


49 


42 


37 


37 


37 


17 Drawing 


75 


85 


88 


82 


86 


92 


78 


77 


18 Music 


67 


71 


68 


68 


67 


67 


64 


64 


19 Manual Training 


16 


18 


19 


33 


30 


30 


50| 50 


Total Assignments 


1174| i: 


1313 


1404 


1327| 1245 


Showing the Average Perc 
Subject in Each 


entag 
Grad 


e of 

e in r 


Recit 
ren I 


ation 
Lmeri 


Time 
can C 


! given to Each 
Jities. 


1 Opening Exercises 


3.6 


3.4 


3.4 


3.5 


2.9 


2.9 


2.9 


2.9 


2 Reading and Literature 


37.3 


31.8 


28.7 


20.6 


17 


12.2 


10.4 


9.5 


3 Writing 


6.7 


6.1 


7.1 


5.9 


4.5 


4.5 


2 


1.6 


4 Spelling 


3.9 


7.1 


6.3 


5.5 


4.9 


4.6 


3.2 


2.4 


5 Grammar 

6 Language and 

7 Composition 


10.9 


10.1 


10.1 


10.1 


10.2 


16.5 


18.6 


18.8 


8 Arithmetic 


13.6 


15.4 


18.2 


18 


17.6 


18.3 


17.7 


17 


9 Geography 


.9 


1.5 


4.1 


11.8 


12 


11.1 


9.3 


5.9 


10 History, etc. 


.4 


.4 


.4 


1.2 


3 


5.2 


11.1 


12 


13 Elementary Science, etc. 


2.9 


2.8 


2.6 


3.4 


3.7 


3.2 


4.2 


3.6 


15 Physiology 


.5 


.6 


.6 


.6 


.9 


.9 


.6 


.6 


16 Physical Training 


4.3 


3.9 


3.9 


3.7 


^ 


2.7 


2.7 


2.7 


17 Drawing 


6.3 


6.9 


6.8 


6.1 


6.2 


6.7 


5.7 


5.6 


18 Music 


5.6 


5.6 


5.3 


5.1 


4.9 


4.9 


4.6 


4.7 


19 Manual Training 


1.3 


1.4 


1.4 


2.5 


2.1 


2.2 


3.6 


8.6 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 39 

Table XIII. — Showing the Percentage of Total Time given to Each 
Study in the Public Elementary Schools of Ten American Cities. 



• 


a 

o 
m 
O 

n 


o 
to 

o 

o 








m 

CO >» 

OH 

5° 


o > 






a 
ed 

- . 

a. 2 




1 Opening Exercises 


2.9 1 1.6| 1.7 


5.1 


3.7| : 


1.9 


1.5 


5.7 


4.4 


3.1 


2 Reading and Liter- 
ature 


23.3 


18.8,23.6 


16.9 


30 


14.5 


23.9 


13.4 


i 


20.2 


20.7 


3 Writing 


i 


4.8 


5.4 


4.1 


6.8 


9.6 


4.6 


4.1 


5.5 


5.1 


4.7 


4 Spelling 


2.4 


3.3 


5.6 


6.3| 2 


10.7 


5.7| 5.1 


2.9 


7.2 


4.7 


o Grammar 

6 Language 

7 Composition 


17.7 


11.9 


16.1 


18.1 


10.3 


11.1 


1 

12.5|17.6|30.9 


13.7 


14.4, 


8 Arithmetic 


16.2 


18.6 17.3|18.6 


19.5 


15.1 


17.2|18.6|12 


15.3 


17.3 


9 Geography 


5.5 


6.1 1 6.2 


10.7 


6.7 


7.5 


9.8 1 8.9| 4.3 


6.9 


7.2 


10 History 

11 Civil Government 


3.6 


4.7 


3 


3.7 


3.6 


6.6 


4 1 5.7 


4.3 


6.6 


4.8 


16 Elementary Science 
14 Nature Study 


4.5 


6.2 


1.4 




3 


3.1 


2.7 


4.5 


5.6 


3.9 


3.4 


15 Puysiology 






2.3 




i* 




.7 1.7 2 


3 


.7 


16 Physical Training 


« 1 








2.4 1 3.6| 8 


4.1 


4.7 


17 Drawing 


7.1 1 4.8| 5 


4.2 


6.4 


11.5 6.4| 4.1| 9.6 


5 


6.4 


18 Music 


4.3| 4.9| 4.9 


4.3 


3.9 


10.6| 5.5 1 4.3| 4.6 


5.3 


5.1 


19 Manual Training 4 


5.8| 1.5] 2.3 


4.4| | 5.4 


4 


2.4 



included with language, 
included with reading, 
included with nature study. 
♦Includes cooking and sewing. 



In many of the subjects of instruction there is a wide range of 
variation as to the recitation time assigned. Yet in the ten city 
schools, as a whole, reading, writing and arithmetic show their 
traditional supremacy in the school curriculum by monopoliz- 
ing 43 per cent of the entire time. For if we include in the 
definition of formal studies, reading, writing, arithmetic, spell- 
ing and language, it can be said for these ten elementary schools 
that the formal studies receive 62 per cent of the assigned time, 
while the numerous studies known as content studies receive 
but little more than 30 per cent. All of which suggests that 
getting a subject introduced into a curriculum, and getting it 
taught after it has been introduced, are entirely different mat- 
ters. Evidently the advocates of such studies as nature study, 
manual training, drawing, music, etc., still have a battle to 



40 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

wage in order to secure a fair apportionment of time for their 
favorites. It is noticed elsewhere that New York City is a 
remarkable exception in this respect, since it allows about 42 
per cent of time to these new studies. Whether this dispropor- 
tion in the other cities is due to opposition from society and the 
environment, or to indifference upon the part of the superin- 
tendents, it is difficult to say. But it is fair to remark that the 
content studies are receiving more attention today than ever 
before in the public elementary schools of America. For, if 
it be remembered that literature is included in the topic lan- 
guage, and that reading, as it is taught in these latter years, 
is to a very large degree good literature, then the 62 per cent 
just mentioned should be diminished to nearly 50 per cent, 
which would mean that there is about an equal allotment of 
time to formal and content studies, provided literature may 
be counted with content studies. This conclusion is corrobo- 
rated in a study made for the Massachusetts Board of Educa- 
tion under the title, "Course of Study in Elementary 
Schools'' (pp. 31 and 32), by Mr. John T. Prince in 1896, 
although I think his study rather exaggerated the time devoted 
to content studies at that time, because of the fallacy of selec- 
tion in the group of cities which he used. His selections 
were confined too exclusively to cities of Massachusetts. 

Of the new studies introduced in recent years, drawing and 
music are the most popular. Tables I., XII., and XIII. show 
this. Table I. shows that they are taught in every grade in 
75 per cent of the fifty schools; in Tables II.-XIII. they 
appear to follow a steady time assignment, freed from the 
irregularity of recitation time common to many other newly 
introduced subjects as they progress from lower to higher 
grades. At first it appears a little remarkable that these two, 
of all the subjects which have struggled for introduction to 
the elementary course of study in recent years, should receive 
the larger and more systematic attention. But the tendency 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 41 

is in perfect harmony with the historical development of all 
science in general, and of the elementary curriculum in par- 
ticular. It is an historical fact that we teach those subjects for 
many years which are less useful, before introducing those 
that are fundamentally essential. We make scientific study 
of those activities which are to be classed among the luxuries, 
before we begin to investigate those which are of every day 
service. We seem to consider the study which is more intrin- 
sically serviceable to be uneducative and beneath the dignity 
of the scientist. Men studied music long before they did 
farming, alchemy before chemistry, and the theory of peda- 
gogy centuries before real school teaching. Even during the 
last six months, the Board of Education of the New York 
City schools has been incessantly disciplined by the public 
press for giving too much time in those schools to what are 
popularly called "the fads and frills," a term which embraces 
such subjects as manual training, cooking, sewing, etc. So, 
while at present true to the process of historical development 
in the elementary curriculum, let us hope that this particular 
stage shall not enthrall us so long that those subjects really 
needed by the child in society shall be postponed unnecessarily 
long by the introduction of those which might well be delayed. 

It is noticeable that while physiology and hygiene receive 
the least time allotment of all subjects, they are taught in 
every grade in three-fourths of the fifty schools from which 
Table I. was made. While physical training, as shown on that 
table, was taught by slightly fewer cities, yet it receives in 
these ten courses of study seven times the allotment that 
physiology and hygiene do, and twice as much as manual 
training. 

In reference to manual training, by comparing this and 
the preceding tables, it will be seen that manual training can 
hardly yet be said to have entered the elementary school at 
all. It is taught in but few of the fifty schools mentioned, 



42 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

and receives relatively little time in these ten typical school 
courses, and that mostly in the two upper grades. 

Again, the absence of correlation between history and 
geography in the lower grades is noticeable. History receives 
scarcely any recitation time before the sixth grade, while 
geography in the fourth and fifth grades receives nearly as 
much time as language, composition and grammar combined. 
In the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, where history receives 
its largest proportion of time, geography receives its least, 
the time assignment for geography decreasing until the eighth 
grade, where it has barely eighty-one minutes a week. 

4. Analysis of the Various Subjects of Instruction 
into Topics. 

From a study of the following tables (XIV.-XVIIL), it is 
evident that in most elementary schools there is a congestion 
of subject matter in the curriculum. Such an enormous num- 
ber of unrelated topics is presented to the child that organiza- 
tion into a unified whole is almost impossible by any mind, 
much less by the untrained mind of the child. It has already 
been shown that new subjects have been added while old ones 
have been omitted. Whether we wish it or not, the public 
has decided that all the subjects of instruction now being 
taught in the elementary curriculum shall remain. That is 
not a pedagogical question at present, but a social demand. 
It is true, the educational innovator introduced the new 
subjects for what seemed to him sound pedagogical reasons. 
Now, however, the plain citizen has gone a step farther, and 
has decided not only to keep the new but to retain all the old 
studies also. In introducing new subjects the enthusiastic 
educator said that they were more practical than the old 
formal studies. To this the citizen assented, for the citizen 
is nothing if not practical. But the citizen added that since 
other subjects had done good service for a long time, all 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 43 

should be retained, in order that the practical and the formally 
theoretic might each receive attention. Thus the pedagogue 
has lost on his own proposition, because of the absence of any 
principle of selection and omission in making up the course of 
study prescribed by the "new education." 

There is, therefore, no hope of relieving the overcrowded 
curriculum by omitting subjects. Whatever relief is to be 
had must come from such an organization of topics under 
these large subjects as will omit the irrelevant. But what is 
to be the standard of the measurement of relative importance ? 
Upon certain details of this question there will inevitably be 
disagreement. Because of the existence of different standards 
and different environmental influences, some will decide for 
one topic and some for another. But if it is generally agreed 
that omission of topics is necessary, and that one method 
of selection and omission is by the organic grouping of many 
of these detailed topics under a few large ones, relief of the 
present overcrowding can be accomplished, notwithstanding 
such difference of opinion. 

Yet it does seem that the standard for the selection of sub- 
ject matter for the curriculum, which has been so vigorously 
advocated during the past few years, might well be applied 
to the topics within those subjects. That standard has been 
based upon our social needs. It has been held that whatever 
society really needs, as determined by its economic, ethical, 
literary and spiritual activities, should be taught to the young 
citizen in the schools, so far as the nature of the child will 
allow. Why should not this same severe test be applied to the 
topics in both the old and the newly introduced subjects of the 
curriculum? A glance at an analysis into the topics of the 
curriculum of any American city school will show that topics 
which cannot be said to fulfil the conditions of the foregoing 
standard are to be found in both the old and the new studies. 
Better organization of the topics in the various subjects of 



44 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

recent introduction is needed; many of them ought to be 
omitted outright and many others combined. The old studies, 
such as arithmetic, language, history, geography and spell- 
ing, may not so much need the grouping of smaller topics 
under larger ones, as they need out-and-out omissions, when 
tested by the standard of social value suggested above. And 
yet, such is the difference of topics in the schools represented 
in the ten city schools from which this study was made, 
especially in reference to history and geography, that but 
casual study will reveal that some of the old studies need 
organization quite as much as the new ones. It might be 
more nearly correct, therefore, to say that all the subjects in 
the curriculum at present are woefully in need of a more 
careful selection of the material within them, and a co-ordi- 
nation of various related topics which at present stand isolated 
in the syllabi and text-books. 

The argument for this re-organization is readily found by 
analyzing the subjects arithmetic, language, history, geog- 
raphy and nature study, in the following tables of topics. 
These topics were copied just as given in the various courses 
of study printed by the superintendents of schools in the ten 
American cities from which the time allotment tables in the 
former part of the chapter are taken. Some of the topics over- 
lap, but none are mentioned separately which do not include 
ideas not expressed in any other one topic in the tables. It is 
not the function or the purpose of this present treatment to 
unite or to show a possible grouping of several kindred topics 
under one large one, but to describe the topics just as they 
were printed by the superintendents and supervisors for the 
teacher's guidance, in order to show the need of organization 
and uniformity, both within individual courses of study and 
among the systems in general. 

These tables (XIV.-XVIII.) also furnish an opportunity 
for observing the grade distribution of the different topics, 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 45 

or at least the tendency among the ten cities to teach certain 
topics in a certain grade. There is, for instance, a practical 
agreement among them that fractions in arithmetic shall be 
taught in or near the fifth grade, while percentage ought to 
receive its closest study near the seventh grade. The frequent 
repetition of the same topic in several grades is accounted for 
by the very elementary character of the introductory work 
in the grades of its first appearance, and by the review work 
in upper grades where it is scored. The time allotted any 
topic may be approximated by reference to Table XII., which 
contains the average time allotted to each subject in each grade 
of the ten cities from which these topics were taken. These 
tables, combined with the percentages in Table XII., will also 
show in a general way the relative importance attached by 
these ten cities to the topics within the same subject. This 
is done by correlating the frequency of the occurrence of a 
topic in a grade (Tables XIV.-XVIII.) and the time allotted 
the subject in that grade in which most of the cities teach it, 
as shown by Table XII. For instance, the largest average 
time allotment to geography occurs in grades IV. and V., as 
will be seen by reference to Table XII. The topics most 
taught in those grades are North America and the United 
States. This ought to give some approximate idea as to the 
relative importance attached in the study of geography to 
these two topics. 

Again, it might suggest the value attached to a topic by 
the cities to add the number of total scores which a topic 
received in all grades. This, of course, would not apply in 
case a topic were of marked difficulty of comprehension. For 
instance, upon this standard of values it might be assumed, 
with a large degree of probability, that in arithmetic (see 
Table XIV.) the first nine topics are regarded as of more 
importance to the student than the other twenty. 

The figures in the following tables (XIV.-XVIII.) represent 



46 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

the number of cities in which the given topic is taught in the 
given grade. As there are but ten cities included in the 
scoring, if any one topic receives ten scores in any one grade, 
it indicates a unanimous agreement as to the proper grade 
in which that topic should be taught. 

Arithmetic— The following explanations and implications 
with reference to Tables XIV.-XVIII. may assist in their 
interpretation. It is well known to all who have been 
acquainted with the teaching of arithmetic that certain topics 
formerly never omitted from arithmetic, are dropped from 
the schools today without hesitation. 

It is very evident that the theory of education which stands 
for teaching a small portion of a subject one year, and 
adding little by little to it during each succeeding year, has 
some adherents who make out courses of study for certain 
large American cities. With due regard to what has already 
been said in reference to the frequent repetition of topics in 
different grades, it nevertheless appears that poor teaching or 
lack of capacity in the child must be brought forward to 
explain why such simple topics as notation, numeration and 
addition should be taught for five successive years. 

Language. — When difficult topics, such as inflection, occur 
in both upper and lower grades in Table XV., it is understood 
that the work in lower grades is very elementary, in upper 
grades more technical. 

The presence in this outline of numerous topics in a grade, 
especially above the fourth grade, indicates lack of progress, 
inasmuch as the topics added in the upper grades are almost 
entirely taken from grammar. This subject, by common 
acceptance, should not monopolize as a formal study the time 
devoted to language, in a progressive elementary school, but 
should be used only incidentally in connection with composi- 
tion and literature. 

In several schools there seems to be an attempt to employ 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 47 



Table XIV. — Showing the Topics in Arithmetic and their Distribu- 
tion by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Ten Ameri- 
can Cities. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Numeration 


10 


10 


10 


8 


5 


3 | 


Notation 


10 


10 


10 


■ 8 


5 


3 


1 1 


Relation of Numbers 


7 


4 


3 


1 


1 




1 


Addition 


8 


9 


10 


8 


3 


1 


I 


Subtraction 


5 


9 


10 


8 


3 


1 


1 


Multiplication 


2 


7 | 7 


8 


4 


1 


1 


Division 


2 


5 | 6 


8 





3 


1 


Fractions 


8 


4 | 


8 10 


9 


3 1 4 


Denominate Numbers 


6 | 5 | 4 


9 | 7 


10 


6 | 6 


Involution and Evolution 


1 1 


1 | 3 | 


2 | 9 


Decimal Fractions 


1 1 




4 | 8 


7 1 3 


Mensuration 


1 1 1 




2 | 2 


3 | 7 


Multiplication Tables 


j 4 | 5 


4 


1 1 1 


1 


Commission and Brokerage 


I 1 




1 


5 | 


Insurance 


1 








5 1 1 


Percentage 


1 




1 


2 


5 


7 


5 


Ratio and Proportion 










1 


3 


5 


Partnership 














2 


4 


Partial Payments 














2 


4 


Greatest Common Multiple and 
Least Common Multiple 








2 


5 








Longitude and Time 














2 


2 


Profit and Loss 














4 


1 


Taxes 














5 




Duties 














1 




Banking 














7 


1 


Exchange 














2 


2 


Simple Interest 








1 




3 


7 


5 


Stocks and Bonds 








1 




3 


1 


Business Forms 








1 1 


3 


1 


1 



correlation by the use of the content of other studies as 
subject matter for the classes in English. Wherever this is 
done there is a noticeable absence of good literature in the 
English course. 

Geography. — Each large topic like North America in 
Table XVI. contains an average of twenty sub-topics in the 
syllabi examined. 

The recurrence of the same topic in different grades is 
accounted for by the fact that the pupils study the topic from 
the two points of view: (1) of physical geography, (2) of 
political geography. 

"Globes and maps" includes map-drawing. 



48 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XV. — Showing the Topics in Language and their Distribu- 
tion by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Ten Cities 
of the United States. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


COMPOSITION 


Conversation and Oral Reproduc- 
tion 


9 


8 


6 


6 


6 


6 


3 


2 


The Paragraph 




1 


1 


1 


1 


2 


6 


3 


The Sentence 


1 




3 


4 


3 


2 


3 


1 


\V ritten Reproduction 


5 


6 


6 


9 


7 


7 


3 


5 


Model Composition 


1 


1 


4 


5 


3 


6 


8 


a 


Invention 








1 1 


1 






Topical Outline 








1 


2 


4 


2 


Description 


2 


4 


4 


3 


3 


5 


5 


2 


Narration 


1 




2 


1 


1 


2 


4 


3 


Exposition 












1 


1 


Letter Writing 






6 


4 


2 


8 


3 


2 


Dictation 


2 


4 


5 


3 


4 


4 


2 


3 


Copying 




2 


1 












Summaries 










1 


1 




3 


Rhetoric from Literature 
















1 


Rhetoric from Texts 














1 


GRAMMAR 


Simple Sentence 










1 




6 


4 


Compound Sentence 














6 


4 


Complex Sentence 












6 


4 


Capital Letters, Punctuation 


6 


7 


7 


(J 


4 


2 


2 


2 


Classification of Sentences 


1 


1 


3 


2 


4 


4 I 


Inflection and Use Part Speech 




1 


1 


5 


7 


9 


10 


6 


Phrases 










2 


3 


4 


3 


Clauses 










2 


2 


3 


3 


Words 




1 




3 


* 


5 


3 


Analysis 




1 




4 


6 


7 


8 


Synthesis 




1 








2 


4 


Correct Expression 


1 


l ! 


2 


3 


1 


1 


2 


2 


LITERATURE 


Literature 


7 


7 


7 


7 


6 


6 


6 


6 


Memorizing Gems 


3 


5 | 


5 


5 1 


3 


3 


2 


3 


Stories 


« 


6 1 


4 


1 1 


2 


1 


2 





In only one of these syllabi is the memorizing of State capi- 
tals noticed. 

Most of the programs follow the topics as they occur in the 
text-books on geography. 

History. — The number of assignments made to different 
wars in contrast to the number made to topics dealing with 
movements of social and economic interest, is one of the pecul- 
iarities shown by Table XVII. 

It is suggestive that the avenue through which history seems 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 49 

Table XVI. — Showing the Topics in Geography and their Distribu- 
tion by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Ten Ameri- 
can Cities. 



Grade I. II. 


III. IV. 


v. 


VI. 


VII. VIII. 


Home Geography | 1 | 2 


3 | 5 


1 


Directions 3 | 4 


1 | 4 


a l I I 


Distance 1 


3 


I l l 


The Earth | 1 


3 


1 | 2 | 


Surface 1 


1 | 5 


2 1 I 


Land 


1 | 5 


1 1 4 | | 


Water | | 


1 | 5 


1 | 4 | 


Revolution of Earth 


1 5 


3 | 3 | |1 


Rotation of Earth 


6 


3 | 3 | 1 


Zones 


1 4 


4 | 3 | | 


Plants | | 1 


2 


1 | 3 | 1 | 1 


Auimals | 1 


3 


1 | 4 | 1 | 1 


Products 


1 | 2 


1 1 111 


Minerals 


1 | 2 


1 1 1 1 


Occupations 


2 


5 | 3 | | 


Governments and Religions 


| 1 


1 1 1 


Races of Men 1 


1 | 6 


1 | 5 | 1 | 1 


Hemispheres 


4 


1 a 1 1 i 


Continents 


5 


2 | 2 | | 


Oceans 


5 


2 | 2 | | 


North America 


5 


7 | 6 | 2 | 


United States 


5 


4 | 5 | 1 | 


New England States 


1 4 


2 | 4 | 


Middle Atlantic States 


3 


2 | 4 | 


Southern States 


4 


2 


4 | 


Central States 


3 


2 


4 




Rocky Mountain & Pacific States | 


4 


2 


4 




Review of United States 


| 1 




1 


Canada 


2 


3 


1 


3 | 


Mexico 


2 


3 


1 


3 I 


Review of North America 


1 


1 






South America 


1 | 3 


6 


5 


5 | 1 


Europe 


1 1 1 


6 


6 


7 1 


Asia 


1 | 1 


5 


6 


6 | 1 


Africa | | 


1 | 1 


4 


5 


7 | 1 


Australasia 


i 1 i 


3 


5 


7 | 1 


Latitude & Longitude 




4 


3 


2 I 



to be finding its way into the grades below the sixth is the his- 
torical and biographical narrative. This, we think, is psycho- 
logically sound, for the child is interested primarily in people. 
The performances of heroes and the activities of his own ac- 
quaintances are the two aspects of child experience which lend 
themselves most directly to the beginning of the study of his- 
tory. Therefore the first two topics in Table XVII. commend 
themselves as a departure in the right direction. 



50 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table XVII.— Showing the Topics in History and their Distribu- 
tion by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Ten Cities 
of the United States. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


American Historical & Bio- 
graphical Narratives 


2 


3 


4 


7 


7 


5 


1 


2 


Local History 


2 


1 


1 


3 


2 


2 






Discoveries 






2 


4 


2 


3 


4 


1 


Explorations 






1 


2 


2 


3 


2 




Settlements 






1 


1 


3 


4 


3 




Colonies 








1 


2 


3 


4 


1 


Colonial Government 






1 






1 


2 


1 


Revolution 






1 


3 


2 


4 


5 


1 


Articles of Confederation 












2 


4 


2 


Constitution 










1 


1 


4 


5 


Amendments to Constitution 














2 


5 


French & Indian War 










2 


3 


6 


2 


War of 1812 








1 




2 


2 


6 


Mexican War 












2 


2 


5 


Civil War 






1 




4 


2 


7 




Spanish-American War 


1 








3 


1 


7 


Territorial Expansion 










3 


1 


5 


Inventions & Discoveries 








1 




4 


2 


5 


Rise of Republican Government 










1 




4 


4 


Economic Progress 












1 


1 


7 


Slavery 












4 


2 


1 


Presidential Administration 












3 




2 


Review of United States 
History 














1 


4 


War of Tripoli 


1 








1 


1 


1 


Era of Good Feeling 


1 








1 


1 


3 


Monroe Doctrine 












1 


1 


2 


Missouri Compromise 












1 


1 


3 


Nullification 










1 


1 


3 


Panic of 1837 












1 


1 


3 


Analysis of National Gov- 
ernment 












1 


2 


1 


Political Parties 
















1 


Analysis of State Government 














1 


2 


City Government 








1 




2 




3 


State History 










1 


1 


1 


1 


Ethical Lessons 










1 


1 


1 




English History 














2 


2 



Next to nature study, perhaps no study in the syllabi ex- 
amined shows greater lack of organization than does elemen- 
tary history. 

Nature Study. — One of the most eminent teachers of 
nature study, in a recent address on the subject, said that 
nature study is not a science. An examination of the syllabi 
on that subject calls forth a ready concurrence with that 



Table XVIII. — Showing the Topics in Nature Study and their Distri- 
bution by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools in Ten Cities 
of the United States. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Vlll. 


Seeds 


2 


2 


2 


4 | 1 j 


1 


2 


1 


Germination of Seeds 


2 


2 


1 


1 | 2 | 


1 


1 


1 


Plants 


4 


4 


6 


8 | 5 | 


5 


3 


3 


Plant Awakening 


1 


1 


1 


2 | 2 | 


1 


1 


2 


Buds 


1 


1 


1 


1 


2 j 








Roots 


1 


2 








1 






Leaves 


3 


4 


4 


1 


3 1 


3 


1 


2 


Flowers 


2 


3 


3 


2 


^ 


2 


2 


2 


Trees 1 


4 


3 


3 


t> 


5 


4 


3 


3 


Sap 














1 




Nuts 


1 


1 




2 








1 


Fruits 


5 


2 


3 


5 


3 


5 


2 


1 


Grain 




1 




2 










Stems 


1 
















Effects of Freezing on Plants 


1 


1 


1 


1 


2 


1 


1 


1 


Foods 


2 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 1 


1 


Insects 


1 


1 


1 


1 


3 


1 


1 


1 


Caterpillars 


1 


1 














Cocoons 


1 


1 














Worms 




1 














Spiders 




1 




1 










Snails 








1 










BMsh 






1 


1 










Tadpole 




1 














Birds 


4 


3 


3 


3 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Homes and Coverings 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


2 


1 


1 


Animals 


4 


6 


5 


3 


2 


5 


2 


2 


Animal Movements 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


Skeletons 












1 






Forms of Water 




2 






1 


1 1 




Wells and Springs 








1 


1 


1 1 


Streams 








1 


2 


1 1 




Soil 






1 


2 


1 


1 






Erosion 








1 


2 


1 






Effect of Freezing on Soil 






I 


1 


1 






Hills & Valleys 








2 








Rocks 




1 




1 


1 


2 






Rock Formations 






1 


1 


1 






Corals 








1 


1 


1 






Fossils 








2 


1 


2 






Minerals 




1 1 


1 


2 


1 


1 




Metals 






1 










Earth Study 






1 


1 










Phenomena of Nature 


2 


| 1 


2 




1 


2 


2 




Weather 


3 


1 * 


3 


4 


4 


3 


2 




Wind 




I 1 














Heat 




1 






1 




1 




Frictional Electricity 














1 




Light 




1 










1 




Lenses 














1 




Air & Liquids 






1 






1 




Lever 




1 








1 




Property of Matter 










1 




Common Facts in Physics 


1 1 






2 


3 


3 



52 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

opinion, if organization is one of the characteristics of a 
science. Table XVIII. is corroborative evidence of such an 
opinion. There is no subject taught in the American schools 
which so greatly needs unification. As it is now taught, the 
subject may include any topic in the entire natural universe. 
We shall have to remember soon that when Comenius once 
attempted universal knowledge as an aim of education he 
failed for want of a capable student. 

After studying Table XVIII. carefully, one would guess 
that when the basis for systematizing this most incoherent 
study is found it will lie more in the vicinity of a simplified 
observational botany and zoology than in the geological, 
physical and chemical aspects of the study as it is now 
taught. 

5. The Historical Development of the Course of Study of 
Five Cities, Showing the Direction/ of Growth since 1868. 

In order to corroborate or refute certain conclusions reached 
in the study of previous tables regarding the relative impor- 
tance of subjects, and to discover the direction in which the 
enrichment of the elementary curriculum has tended in recent 
years, a brief historical study has been made of five American 
city schools. This has been done in the hope of taking one 
step more toward a discovery of the ideal American course of 
study. While merely a type study, it ought to possess some 
value in proportion as the cities are representative American 
cities. 

Tables XIX.-XXIII. show the elementary school curriculum 
in New York, Boston, Chicago, Louisville and St. Louis for the 
years 1868, 1888 and 1904. The subjects taught and the 
grades in which they are taught in the three respective years 
are given. In 1888 and 1904 the tables show the minutes per 
week in each subject and in each grade, and also the percent- 
age of total time occupied by each branch of instruction. 










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58 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

In presenting the points of interest in Tables XIX.-XXIIL, 
it has been thought well to restrict the discussion to those 
branches of instruction which best show the direction of the 
enrichment of the curriculum in the last thirty years. 

By comparing the foregoing tables this trend of develop- 
ment may be quite clearly seen. It is observable in two ways : 
first, by study of the subjects and topics which are introduced 
from time to time; and second, by study of the decrease and 
increase of time allotted to those subjects which have been in 
the course of study from the beginning. 

English. — Grammar is the only subject in any of the pro- 
grams in 1868 to cover the various topics which we now in- 
clude under the term English. Language lessons were added 
to this topic by 1888. Just what the term meant is not clear, 
but it evidently meant something other than formal grammar. 
The evidence shows that it included composition, but not 
nearly so much literature as is included under the concept 
language lessons, in 1904 There was absolutely nothing in 
the curricula of 1868 to resemble the subject literature. Liter- 
ature in the elementary grades is comparatively recent, cer- 
tainly it does not occur much earlier than 1888. 

Drawing. — Drawing is one of the subjects added in 1888 
by four of the five cities. It appeared on the program of the 
schools of Boston in 1868 in the four upper grades and was 
added in the lower grades in 1888. Of the five cities, 
therefore, Boston alone had drawing in 1866, and that only 
in four grades. 

Elementary Science and Nature Study. — All of these 
cities except St. Louis had on their programs in 1868 a subject 
called object lessons, which was the forerunner of elementary 
science and nature study, but certainly was not exactly 
either at that time. It was displaced by the topic elementary 
science in 1888, except in New York, where it was dropped and 
no science substituted. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 59 

The term nature study is more modern but includes prac- 
tically the same subject matter as elementary science. It is 
not in any of the 1888 programs, but appears, connected 
usually with elementary science, upon all the five in 1904. 
The subject physiology and hygiene was added in 1904 in three 
of the cities. Boston had already added it in 1888. St. Louis 
seems not to have added it yet. 

Manual Training. — Manual training is found on no pro- 
gram in 1888. It is the one distinctively modern subject. All 
of the five cities except Louisville teach it in 1904. New York 
has gone farther perhaps than any other American city in 
this line of work. When drawing and constructive work are 
included in the subject, about 15 per cent of that city's recita- 
tion time is at present devoted to manual training. 

Civics. — There is a clearly marked tendency either to make 
a separate subject of civics, or to add extra time to history and 
teach it as part of that subject, which amounts to the same 
thing. 

The above five topics represent the newly introduced sub- 
jects and show the direction in which the curriculum is 
growing. 

It is interesting to observe that while these additions were 
made, there have been practically no omissions during the past 
thirty-six years. Those topics occurring in 1868 were in- 
cluded in the larger subjects introduced in later years. Even 
"morals and manners' ' is provided for and specifically men- 
tioned in 1904 under the new topic "opening exercises." 

6. Time Allotment. 

The direction of growth in the curriculum during the last 
thirty-six years may be seen not only in the addition of sub- 
jects but by a eomparison of the time allotted to the several 
subjects in each grade upon the basis of a week's work. 

Except St, Louis (whose decrease of total recitation time 



60 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

in the eight grades per week from 11,680 in 1888 to 7,370 in 
1904 is unaccountable) all the cities show a total increase of 
time spent in recitations per week in all the grades together, 
which ranges from two thousand to four thousand minutes. 
That is, the increase of recitation time is about thirty or sixty 
minutes a day in each grade. 

But the interesting comparison is that of the increase or 
decrease of percentages of time assigned to different subjects. 
Manifestly, the subjects regarded as most important receive 
a greater percentage of increase of the total recitation time per 
week. The tendency toward emphasis on specific subjects may 
not be noticed so readily from the increase or decrease of 
minutes of weekly recitation time as it will be discovered 
from the study of the relative percentage of increase or de- 
crease of recitation time. This is illustrated forcibly in the 
case of the subjects studied in detail below. The total weekly 
recitation time per grade from 1888 to 1904 was increased, 
which means that the recitation time of each subject was 
increased, and yet the subjects below usually lost in per- 
centage of recitation time. That is, they received less than 
their proportion of the general increase of recitation time. 
For the purpose of showing the increase or decrease of im- 
portance attached to subjects during recent years, the relative 
percentages have been tabulated in the last column to the 
right in the tables for 1888 and 1904. These are derived by 
dividing the total time spent in all the grades in teaching a 
given subject by the total time spent in all the grades in 
teaching all the subjects. 

Arithmetic has lost time in three of the curricula and 
gained in two. In Louisville it gained only one per cent in the 
thirty-six years, while in New York it lost nearly sixteen per 
cent, i. e., its relative per cent in 1888 was 26.2, and in 1904 
10.2 per cent. But even in 1904 in all the curricula it received 
a proportion of time second only to reading. The extremes 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 61 

in the change of time assigned arithmetic are in New York 
and Chicago, the former decreasing its relative time 16 per 
per cent, and the latter increasing it 9 per cent. 

Spelling, Reading and English. — These subjects have 
lost in the sixteen years from 1888 to 1904 in probably every 
case, with the exception of reading in Louisville. If one 
includes under the one branch of instruction English, all the 
Subjects, reading, writing, grammar, language lessons, com- 
position and spelling, there is no exception to the loss of time, 
notwithstanding the fact that there has been an admitted in- 
crease of time in literature and language lessons. The loss 
is mainly in spelling, reading and formal grammar. 

Geography and History. — Both these subjects, though 
occupying a minor amount of time in comparison with the 
subjects just discussed, have yet gained in time. The gain 
averages approximately 3 per cent for the two subjects taken 
together. Geography gains more than history. The latter 
subject is still taught in the upper grammar grades, its advo- 
cates seeming to fear to allow it to stray very far from the 
high school. 

So much for the curriculum of the public elementary schools 
at the present time in five of the larger American cities. 
Prophecy is beyond the bounds of this paper, but it would be 
interesting to know whether other cities will follow the radical 
departure just entered upon by New York City. In this city 
as in no other city of the United States, subjects other than 
the "three R's" have received much attention in the curricu- 
lum. Reading, writing, spelling, grammar, language lessons, 
composition, arithmetic, geography and history receive barely 
60 per cent of the allotted time. In other words, those sub- 
jects which were given practically all the time only a few 
years ago, and which even in New York were given 90 per 
cent of the time, have suddenly been cut down to a little 
over half of the time. The superintendents of several of the 



62 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

larger cities are reorganizing their courses of study at present. 
Among others, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago are making 
changes. Will the New York curriculum in its extreme move- 
ment towards what are known as the content studies be fol- 
lowed by these superintendents, or will New York under force 
of popular conservative opinion be forced to retreat from its 
present curriculum ? Whatever is agreed upon for the larger 
cities of the United States will be followed by the rest of the 
progressive city school systems, many of which will advance 
just a step farther in the development than the point around 
which the large cities settle down. For after all, the large 
cities set the ideals, but the smaller towns suburban to these 
cities more nearly attain the ideal, owing to the absence of 
the complex system by which the larger cities are hampered. 
The smaller cities of America are greatly influenced in the 
matter of admission of subjects into the curriculum by the 
practice in the larger cities. For this reason, . considerable 
importance ought to be attached to the tendencies in the 
development of the curricula of such cities as the five reviewed, 
as well as to the curricula of the ten whose time allotments 
have been discussed in previous pages. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CURRICULUM OP PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN CITIES 

OP ENGLAND. 

1. Administration Relating to the Elementary Curriculum. 

According to the English Education Act of December, 
1902,* which went into effect March, 1903, the Councils of 
every county and of every county borough became the au- 
thorities for the public elementary schools of England. In 
boroughs of ten thousand people, and in municipalities of over 
twenty thousand, their respective Councils became the local 
education authority for elementary schools. These several 
sets of Councils manage the schools through a Board of Mana- 
gers appointed for each school. In the case of Council schools 
(entirely public schools), they appoint four of the six Mana- 
gers. In the case of Voluntary schools (partly Church and 
partly public schools), the Councils appoint only one of the 
six Managers, the Church appointing four and the vicinity 
one. 

These special Managers under the new law exercise the 
larger control over the public elementary schools of England. 
They either choose the course of study or delegate this choice 
to the head master. In a town with many schools the Board of 
Managers of each school has power to decide all matters rela- 
tive to the curriculum of that school. Consequently, every 
school in a city system may have a different course of study. 
In fact this is largely true with respect to the time assignments 
♦Code of 1903, National Union of Teachers' edition, pp. 207-231. 

63 



64 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

made to the different subjects, although with reference to the 
subjects taught there is a close uniformity throughout all 
England, for reasons soon to be explained. 

Let it not be forgotten, however, in the study of the Eng- 
lish elementary school curriculum, that the school is the unit. 
In no school system of the four modern progressive types 
included in this study, are there such extremely individualistic 
tendencies to be found. In the English schools the individual 
is everything, whereas in Germany and France he is nothing 
in contrast with the needs of the State. The individual is 
reached through the agency of the school under the present 
English law. The individual environment has quite as large a 
place in the school as the individual child. The gentlemen 
who furnished the seventy-eight syllabi of the different schools 
for this study, analyzed the environments from which the 
children came, and endeavored to show the influence these 
environments have upon the content and emphasis in the cur- 
riculum. The following study will reveal the fact that the 
adaptation to environment is far better provided for in the 
English elementary schools than in the schools of the other 
countries under discussion. 

Individualism of some kind has been the ideal since the 
establishment of the English elementary system in 1870. 
In 1873, I. Todhunter in his "Conflict of Studies' ' (p. 3), 
after discussing the different possible aims of education in 
his country, said : ' ' Possibly, however, the end which is usually 
sought is the good of the individual rather than the State.' ' 
The prevalence of this conception has seriously militated 
against the perfection, even against the possibility, of a system 
of elementary schools. There is a tendency in recent years 
towards uniformity and away from individualism, but it has 
not yet revolutionized the curriculum. This, then, is a veri- 
table antithesis to the French bureaucratic system. A recent 
English writer has expressed it very well in saying : ' ' France 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 65 

protests against the tyranny of the State, while England asks 
for more help from the State. ' ' 

Let us next examine the aid given by the central authority, 
and see how it secures its control in virtue of said aid. The 
Board of Education in England has charge of the State's 
interests in education. It purchases this control by subsidiz- 
ing the schools from the State exchequer. It does not assume 
in a high-handed way, without consent of the people, the 
authority to interfere in public education. But it subsidizes 
those schools which agree to teach what it considers certain 
essential subjects in certain essential ways, and it refuses to 
grant aid to those which do not acquiesce in its requests. The 
individual Board of Managers may still teach what it pleases, 
but it forfeits the grant from the State treasury by so doing, 
unless its pleasure coincides with that of the Board of Edu- 
cation. 

So the Board of Education exercises an inhibitive authority 
over the elementary curriculum. This it does, just as is done 
in France, by naming a minimum curriculum with certain 
elective studies which must be taught in a manner satisfactory 
to His Majesty's Inspector, sent out by the Board of Educa- 
tion to examine and report upon every school. The public 
Infant School (containing pupils from three to seven years 
of age) which satisfies H. M. Inspector passably well will 
receive from the State treasury sixteen shillings per pupil. 
The Infant School which pleases him very well will receive 
seventeen shillings. The public Elementary School will re- 
ceive twenty-one shillings when it is fairly satisfactory and 
twenty-two shillings when it is very satisfactory to the Inspec- 
tor. This grant in 1900 paid 38.4 per cent of all money spent 
on elementary education.* 

In order to satisfy the Inspector, there must be four hundred 

*"The Making of Citizens, — a Study in Comparative Education," R. W. 
Hughes, p. 130. 



66 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

school sessions a year, i. e., (counting morning and afternoon 
each a session) two hundred school days. In the Infant 
Schools these sessions must not continue for a shorter time 
than one and one-half hours each, and in the Elementary 
School not less than two hours in the afternoon and two in the 
morning. Later we shall see that the average is never less 
than five hours per day, frequently six. 

One other condition which the Inspector exacts of the local 
authorities is that they shall see to it that every child between 
the ages of five and fourteen shall attend the public or some 
other good elementary school, unless excused at the age of 
twelve by passing an examination of proficiency, or at the 
age of thirteen by virtue of having been present for five 
successive years at three hundred and fifty annual sessions. 

Furthermore, the time-table of studies must be posted in 
each school room, and approved and signed by the Inspector 
on behalf of the Board. Before the Inspector is allowed to 
sign this time-table it must provide for the teaching, by an 
approved teacher, of the following subjects: 

In Infant Schools (age three to seven) : 

1. The elements of reading, 

2. The elements of writing, 

3. The elements of arithmetic, 

4. Needlework (for girls), 

5. Drawing (for boys), 

6. Appropriate and varied occupations, 

7. Simple lessons in common things (akin to nature 

study), 

8. Singing, 

9. Simple physical exercises. 

In schools for older children (age seven to fourteen), the 
subjects as a rule required of all children are : 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 67 

1. English, by which is understood 

(a) Reading, 

(b) Recitation, i. e. memorizing gems of litera- 

ture, 

(c) Writing, 

(d) Composition, 

(e) Grammar (so far as it bears upon the cor- 

rect use of language), 

2. Arithmetic, 

3. Geography, 

4. History, 

5. Common things (akin to nature study and elemen- 

tary science), 

7. Physical training, 

8. Drawing (for boys), 

9. Needlework (for girls).* 

Besides the foregoing list of studies, which are required 
only in the sense that the parliamentary grant to the amount 
of five or six dollars per pupil is given for teaching them, 
there is a second list of electives prescribed by the central 
authority "one or more of which is to be taken when the 
circumstances of the school in the opinion of the Inspector, 
make it desirable.' ' These are: algebra, Euclid, mensuration, 
mechanics, chemistry, physics, elementary physics and chem- 
istry, animal physiology, hygiene, botany, principles of agri- 
culture, horticulture, navigation, Latin, French, Welsh (for 
scholars in schools of Wales), German, book-keeping, short- 
hand, domestic economy or domestic science, drawing (for 
girls), and needlework (for boys). Of course there is no 
extra subsidizing from the treasury for the one study selected 
from this list. 

A list of motor active studies is furnished, however, for the 

*In future discussions this list of nine subjects is referred to as the 
"required" studies, with the idea that it is required for the State grant. 



68 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

teaching of each of which an extra grant is allowed. The 
studies of this nature offered to girls are: cookery, laundry 
work, household management; those offered to boys, cottage 
gardening, and manual instruction, also cookery for boys in 
seaport towns.* 

Before further inquiry respecting the English elementary 
curriculum is possible, the question must be answered whether 
the course of study from an administrative point of view is 
compulsory and fixed for all England, or whether it is largely 
optional and adaptable to the needs of various environ- 
ments. At first glance, it would seem to be just as binding 
upon the different school Managers to adopt the Board's pre- 
scribed course, with emphasis upon such divisions as the Board 
indicates, as is the requirement of the local authority in 
France or Germany, where a somewhat despotic control seems 
to operate. The power of the Inspector through the Board of 
Education over the national exchequer is so great that for 
all practical purposes the course of study prescribed to him 
by the Board, and through him prescribed for the school, is 
compulsory. For every one knows that rarely will a Board 
of Managers throw away the State grant by refusing to teach 
the course of study prescribed by the State. 

It is true the terminology has been so changed during 
recent years that the law does not specifically say that the 
first division of studies shall be taught in every school. And 
this seems to be very gratifying to the English people. A 
recent writer upon the subject has gone so far as to say: 
' ' The control of the people over the schools is complete, — that 
is so far as the State is concerned. The curriculum of the 
schools is no longer prescribed by the State ; all that the State 
retains is the power of veto in cases where the efficiency of 
the school is liable to be impaired.f 

♦National Union of Teachers' edition of Code, p. 11. 
t "The Making of Citizens," Hughes, p. 33. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 69 

And yet, notwithstanding this rather emphatic statement by 
an Englishman, it is a fact that the Code does require that 
each principal teacher at the beginning of the year shall pre- 
pare a course of study and a syllabus covering the entire 
year, both of which must be passed upon by His Majesty's 
Inspector before the annual per capita grant of five or six 
dollars will be paid to the school. It will also be observed 
upon later pages of this study, that those subjects of instruc- 
tion for which the State bounty is given, appear to very many 
and different environments to possess qualities very superior 
to those that do not draw the State grant. The question is, 
does not the legal suggestion of the Board as expressed in the 
Code amount to the same thing as, and open the opportunity 
for, a system strictly bureaucratic in reference to the curricu- 
lum of the elementary schools ? 

If the further response is made that this cannot be true, 
inasmuch as no time allotment is required by the State, one 
could reply by quoting from the Code of 1903 (Act 79), 
which shows one of the general conditions of the grant to be 
that ''the time table must be approved for the school by the 
Inspector on behalf of the Board." In one corner of the time 
table is a space in which the number of minutes per week 
assigned to each subject is to be posted. So that the Inspector 
practically passes upon the time allotments as well as upon 
the distribution of subject matter throughout the grades, 
which is about all the German and French Inspectors are 
allowed to do. 

The possibilities, then, are present for a bureaucratic 
system. The fact that the government of the curriculum of 
England is not strictly bureaucratic is due to the liberality 
of interpretation upon the part of the Inspector and the 
Board, and to a vigorous democratic sentiment among the 
masses. 

In the presence of these last mentioned factors, it cannot 



70 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

be correctly said that the curriculum is compulsory for all the 
country. The question is largely left to the Head Master, the 
Local Managers, and the Inspector, the last of whom is easily 
satisfied. So delicate is the balancing of powers between the 
Local Managers and the Board at London that no conflict 
arises. The Board in the Revised Instructions for 1903 
specifically says: "The greatest freedom possible is allowed 
to Managers and teachers in planning and carrying out the 
courses of instruction comprising these subjects. It is not 
required that all of them should be taught in every class of 
the school, and one or more of them may be omitted in any 
school which can satisfy the Inspector and the Board that 
there is good reason for such omission."* This refers to the 
subjects included in the first ten numbers in Table XXIV. 
The Board claims the right of veto in case of inefficient expen- 
diture of the State's funds. It is possible, although I cannot 
admit that it appears in the least probable from all the cases 
here studied, that the majority of local Managers would prefer 
these same subjects taught their children if there were no sug- 
gestion upon the part of the State. 

We really have presented to us for the first time a course of 
study which is both compulsory and optional; both required 
by the central authority of a bureaucratic government, and 
yet elective to suit the needs of the individual environment 
of a democratic people. Truly it seems a paradox, yet who 
knows but that the remedy for the static condition of the 
curriculum on the one hand, and of the loose, unrelated and 
ununified curriculum on the other hand may not be found in 
the British ideal ? The French and Germans complain of too 
much organization, too much uniformity, and too little pro- 
vision for the individualistic, while in America we complain 
of too large a provision for the purely individualistic and a 
total absence of that necessary relation between the course of 

•Revised Instructions for 1903, p. 70. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 71 

study in one town and another. Have not the English, upon 
the administrative side, a suggestion for the three other 
nations 1 

2. The Adoption by Schools of the Curriculum Prescribed 

by State. 

The English system of prescribing the elementary curricu- 
lum is peculiarly interesting to the American, who in recent 
years has grown most enthusiastic over the perfection of the 
German bureaucratic system of public education, but is with- 
held from subscribing to it because of the absence of individual 
liberty and democratic ideas. England presents to him a 
system which keeps fairly balanced both phases of education, 
even if the system is not always efficient. It is true that the 
immense chasm which intervenes between the school and the 
central government sometimes alarms the champion of unitary 
and perfectly adjusted systems of education, but that chasm 
ought not to appall the American educator who could not dis- 
cover the first joint of connection in any system of education 
in his own country. Under the English system, at any rate, 
the ten subjects required by the central government are taught 
in the city schools, while there is no guarantee that the same 
subjects will be taught in any two American cities. 

Since, however, there is left to the individual schools in 
England, as has been shown, a large privilege of choice in the 
subjects of instruction other than the ten " prescribed,' ' a 
further study is necessary before we can arrive at the impor- 
tance attached to the various subjects by the English people. 
What this relative importance of subjects is held to be among 
other progressive nations is an assistance to us in determining 
their importance for ourselves. For in proportion as two 
nations have similar elements in that environment to which 
they must adjust the child, in just such proportion will they 
both value those subjects of instruction which have proven 



72 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

the most effective agents of that adjustment. There are per- 
haps few elements in the industrial life of England which are 
not equally important in the industrial life of America, and 
few elements in the moral, religious and physical environment 
which are not duplicated in America. And it is to those rela- 
tively simple elements in his environment, so similar in both 
countries, that it is the function of the public elementary 
school to adjust the child. 

Our largest task in this entire study is to determine the 
theoretical and the actual relative importance attached by a 
government and by the democratic masses to a specific subject 
of instruction. We shall, therefore, first present a table 
(XXIV.) showing the number of departments (schools) in 
the English elementary school system (age of chidren, seven 
to fourteen) which receive the grant from the State treasury 
for teaching any of the thirty-six respective subjects pre- 
scribed upon the " required, ' ' the " elective' ' and the ''extra 
grant " list of the Board of Education.* In England there 
may be three departments in the same building, viz., Boys', 
Girls', and Infants' Departments. In 1903 there were 4,002 
Boys' Departments, 3,883 Girls', 15,466 Mixed and 8,197 In- 
fants' Departments. There were then in the year under con- 
sideration, 23,351 departments in the elementary schools 
(children seven to fourteen years old). 

The figures in Table XXIV. show the numbers of depart- 
ments in which a given subject is taught. A score of 23,351 
to a subject indicates a perfect correlation between the curric- 
ulum of the individual school and that prescribed by the 
Board of Education. The figures should show the relative 
compliance to the will of the Board of Education as expressed 
in its list of ' ' required, " " elective ' ' and ' ' extra ' ' subjects. The 
table is divided into these three divisions: subjects numbered 

♦The terms "elective" and "extra" are used to describe the second and 
third lists above, respectively. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 73 



Table XXIV.— Showing the Number of Departments (Boys, Girls, or 
Mixed Schools) out of 23,351 under the Control of the English 
Board of Education, in which the Various Subjects of Instruc- 
tion are taught.* 

Number of 
Departments in 
which Taught. 



Subjects Required for the Grant from the State Treasury. 



1 Reading. Writing, Arithmetic" 



2 Composition 



3 Grammar 



4 Geography 



5 History 



6 Common Things 



7 Drawing 



8 Needle-work 

9 Physical Training" 



10 Singing 



23,351 
23,347 



23,307 



23,340 



23,231 



19,369 



23,326 
23,346 



List from which Schools may elect One or More Subjects. 



11 Algebra 

12 Euclid 

13 Mensuration 



14 Mechanics — — , 

15 Science (Elementary or experimental Physics, Chem- 

istry, etc.) _ . 

16 Animal Physiology 



17 Hygiene 



18 Botany or Horticulture 

19 Principles ot Agriculture" 

20 Latin 



21 French 



22 German 



23 Welsh 



24 Hebrew 



25 Bookkeeping 



26 Shorthand 

27 Typewriting or Business Subjects 



28 Domestic Economy or Domestic science 

29 Kindergarten Subjects 



1,383 



198 
349 



"263" 



596 
"252~ 



26 

742 



T5~ 



131 



2 
164" 



538 



21 



974 
"15" 



Subjects for which Extra Grants are paid. 



30 Cookery (for Girls) 

31 Laundry Work 

32 Dairy Work 

33 Household Management 



3,810 



34 Cottage Gardening (tor Boys) 

35 Manual Instruction ~~ 

36 Cookery (for Boys in Seaport Towns) 



817 



1 

"210" 



481 
1,907 



•This table is taken from Board of Education Statistics ending August 
31, 1903, page 101. 



74 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

1-10 are the required subjects; 11-29 are the subjects from 
which one or more subjects may be elected "when the cir- 
cumstances of the School make it desirable in the opinion of 
the Inspector-," while departments teaching 30-36 receive an 
extra bonus from the State treasury. 

These figures should also show the relative importance 
attached to a subject when corroborated by Tables XXV. and 
XXXV. This particular table is not conclusive but only sug- 
gestive upon the subject of relative importance of subject 
matter, first, for the reason that it is most likely much biased 
in the preference shown for those subjects which have a mon- 
etary value because of their ability to draw the parliamentary 
grant; and, second, for the reason that no idea of the time 
devoted to a subject is presented. But so far as it may be 
accepted, it shows that the "three RV occupy positions of 
first importance. Next stands composition, then singing, 
geography and nature study, physical training, history, gram- 
mar, drawing and needlework, in the order named. This 
completes the list of required subjects. 

By subtracting the sum of the differences between the scores 
attained by the nine subjects, which were below the perfect 
correlation, from the highest possible number (23,351) 
attained by one subject, there would remain 6,266 schools not 
scored in the required list. Just about this number of schools 
are scored in the second list from which the one or two 
electives are to be chosen. This may be readily seen by add- 
ing the scores of the subjects of instruction numbered 11 to 
29, inclusive. From this it would appear that a subject is 
dropped from the required list when one from the elective list 
is chosen. As to the question of the compliance made by the 
local School Managers and Headmasters to the more strictly 
mandatory curriculum including the first twelve subjects in 
Table XXIV., it can be said that if the Board had said em- 
phatically, "Each school receiving the grant shall teach each 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 75 

of these twelve subjects," only 6,266 exceptions would have 
occurred in a possibility of 233,510. This indicates a very 
close correlation between the subjects on the list prescribed by 
the central authority and that prescribed by the local school 
authorities. 

Of the "extra grant " subjects not more than one for every 
three schools is the average chosen. The eight subjects out 
of twenty-six possible electives which receive a score as high 
as five hundred in the two latter sections of this table are 
algebra, science, French, shorthand, domestic economy, cook- 
ery, laundry and manual training. The last six emphasize 
the utilitarian, the first two the formal. 

Here then, we begin to get a glimpse of the emphasis placed 
upon subjects by the English people in real practice. These 
data suggest that the purely scientific and the purely practical 
are uppermost in the English mind in the elementary schools. 
The public has decided that the formal and the useful shall 
predominate in the education of the masses in England. What 
we please to call the art side of the curriculum, i.e., good 
literature, art in its various forms, are the subjects that 
suffer if there be omissions. In the required list, literature is 
not provided for, and the subjects drawing and needlework, 
which are omitted from the largest number of schools, are the 
only two in the list which might be said to offer art training. 
In the other two lists, the different forms of handwork which 
might be enumerated as subsidiary to the art studies, are 
provided for in only five or six per cent of the schools. The 
formal, the scientific, the ultilitarian, the practical, are re- 
garded as important, while that which responds to the emo- 
tional and the artistic needs of the child and of the race are 
not emphasized in these elementary schools as a whole. 

Many American teachers may observe with delight that the 
incubus of their existence, spelling, is omitted from the lists 
entirely. This means that no theoretic importance is attached 



76 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

to it. However, an examination of Table XXV., or any of 
the following tables, will show that it does possess an actual 
importance among the schoolmasters, and sometimes among 
the Inspectors. The high score of spelling in Table XXV. 
is correlated from reading lessons, dictation, etc. In this 
sense it appears quite as important as does the subject recita- 
tion which is on the Board's grant list. Actually, there are 
thirteen out of thirty-eight schools in Table XXV. which 
provide for the subject of spelling as a recitation apart. It is 
interesting that teachers of the English language, when an 
opportunity is given to omit spelling, do not accept the offer. 
One wonders if many of the tirades against spelling are really 
sincere. 

So far this section of the discussion has been devoted to the 
enumeration of the subjects required and suggested by the 
central authority and the number of individual schools adopt- 
ing them. We find that the English curriculum contains the 
same subjects as those prescribed for the German Volksschule, 
but that, unlike that system, the time and grade in which the 
subject is taught is not prescribed. A knowledge of these two 
facts is necessary for a successful comparative study. Our 
only approach to a correct estimate of the relative values of 
our own system and that of England, then, is through a com- 
parison of the length of time spent in school by the children 
of the two countries. 

3. Comparison of the English Standard and the American 

Grade. 

The English standards and our grades are usually spoken 
of as equivalent. Let us see if this be true. In England 
children enter the Infant School (Department, or Class, ac- 
cording to the several terms) between the ages of three and 
seven years. Thus, before entering the first standard (grade) 
the child may have had four years' training and must have 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 77 

had at least two, in compliance with the law compelling 
attendance between the ages of five and fourteen years. He 
has spent approximately four hours and a half per day in 
the school room during these years. The English child enters 
the first standard at the age of seven with at least two years 
of training; the American child enters the first grade at the 
age of six, but has rarely received any training before that 
time. 

In England, the school year is never less than two hundred 
days ; in America, its average length is one hundred forty- 
three and two-tenths days, possibly one hundred and seventy- 
five days for cities. The school day in England is apportioned 
about as follows : two hours at noon, fifteen minutes morning 
and ten minutes afternoon recess, the session opening at 9 A. 
M. and closing at 4 :30 P. M., which gives five hours per day, 
— about thirty minutes more than the American child has in 
the school room or in recitation. (Compare American time 
allotment Tables II.-XI. with the school periods for the sev- 
enty-eight English schools herein studied.) However, we 
should not forget that in England the seventh and eighth 
standards are not well attended, owing to the exemptions (p. 
66) already mentioned.* 

Of the real knowledge of the child at the completion of his 
fourteenth year, it is difficult to speak, as that must depend 
in a large degree upon the efficiency and methods of the 
teacher. 

A summary of the content of the Infant School cur- 
riculum is given below, and for a comparison of the re- 
mainder of the school course examine Tables XIV.-XVIII. 
and Tables XXXIX.-XLIII. The summary is taken from 
the Infant Department of the Addison Garden School, 
London. 

♦Statistics of Board of Education for 1904, p. 6. 



78 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Average Number of Average Number of 

Subject. Minutes per Week. Subject. Minutes per Week. 

Scripture 125 Physical Exercise 56 

Reading 207 Singing 56 

Writing 120 Stories 26 

Arithmetic 150 Recreation 125 

Drawing 52 Memory Gems 52 

Needlework 90 Object Lessons 60 

Kindergarten Occupations 109 Kindergarten Games 22 

Mental Arithmetic 45 Optional Lessons 22 

The pupil, upon leaving the Infant Section at the age of 
seven for the first grade of the Elementary School, is supposed 
to have read through three readers ; is able to write both small 
and capital letters and copy words and sentences; can do 
simple sums involving notation up to fifty in addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication and division, and knows the multiplication 
table up to six times six ; has had some work in clay modeling, 
sewing and paper folding, and has learned many songs and 
something of the elements of singing. 

From Tables XIV.-XVIII. and XXXIX.-XLIII. it will be 
seen that in arithmetic, science and formal grammar the 
English sixth grade pupil has covered considerably more 
ground than the American; but in nature study, literature, 
geography and history he is not at all in advance. 

It is not true then, that in all respects, the standard of Eng- 
lish schools and the grade of American schools are similar. 
The pupil in an English standard is somewhat farther ad- 
vanced, is one year older, has had at least two years more 
training, and recites a longer period of time during the year 
than the pupil of the American grade of the same rank. 

4. General Treatment of Subjects by Standards. 

We may advance the discussion of the relative values of the 
subject matter of the curriculum by a study of Table XXV. 
This table was made up from a study of thirty-eight curric- 
ula ot English schools, thirty of which contained first stand- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 79 



ards; thirty-seven, second standards; thirty-eight, third, 
fourth, fifth and sixth standards; thirty, seventh standards, 
and four, eighth standards. The figures in the table represent 
the number of schools teaching the respective subjects in the 
grade in which the score is written. 

This table should answer three questions: First, do the 
individual schools conform to the prescribed curriculum of 
the Board of Education? Second, in what grades do the 
several subjects of instruction occur? Third, how important 
are the different subjects as measured by the number of 
grades in which they are taught and by the number of schools 
which prescribe them? 

Table XXV. — Showing the Number of English Schools (of the thirty- 
eight Schools selected) and the Grades (Standards) in which the 
Various Subjects are taught. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


1 Scripture 


22 


26 


30 


33 


34 


33 


26 


3 


2 Reading 


28 


34 


36 


37 


38 


38 


30 


3 


3 Writing 


28 


33 


35 


36 


36 


37 


27 


3 


4 Spelling 


21 


24 


26 


26 


20 


18 


10 


1 


5 Grammar 


20 


27 


31 


32 


33 


34 


29 


2 


6 Recitation 
Literature 


19 
5 


22 
5 


23 
6 


24 
6 


24 
6 


23 
6 


19 
5 


3 


7 Composition 


19 


26 


27 


28 


31 


31 


21 


3 


8 Arithmetic 
Albegra 
Mensuration 


27 


34 


34 


36 
2 
2 


38 
9 
2 


38 

13 

3 


30 
11 

1 


3 

1 


9 Geography 


24 


30 


33 


34 


35 


34 


27 


3 


10 History 


7 


12 


15 


21 


25 


23 


17 


2 


13 Elementary Science or 
Common Things 


27 


31 


33 


32 


32 


35 


27 


1 


16 Physical Training 
Swimming 


23 
3 


30 
3 


32 
3 


33 
3 


35 
5 


35 
4 


29 
4 


1 


17 Drawing 


26 


32 


34 


36 


36 


38 


28 


3 


18 Singing 


23 


30 


32 


37 


38 


34 


27 


3 


19 Manual Training 


1 


1 


2 


2 


12 


15 


15 


2 


20 Needle-work 
Cookery 
Laundry 


13 
3 


19 
2 


19 
3 


20 
5 


21 
10 

2 


23 

12 

2 


19 
8 
2 


1 


21 Stenography 








3 


6 


5 




22 French 








1 


3 


9 


9 




Mechanics 










2 


2 


2 




Recreation 


17 


21 


21 


22 


22 


22 


16 


2 ' 


Review or Revision of 
Home Work 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


4 


4 




General Information 


4 


4 


4 


« 


7 


8 


6 




School Garden 








1 


3 


1 


Euclid 




1 1 








1 



80 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

In answer to the first question, this table shows that the 
subjects receiving a high score are on the " required list," 
or, in other words, those having a money value. No better 
example of this can be taken than that of manual training. 
The Code specifies that the Board shall not give the grant 
except for children twelve years old and over. Consequently, 
manual training is found below the fifth grade in only two 
schools out of the thirty-eight. America and France have 
demonstrated that the teaching of this subject has just as val- 
uable results in the primary grades. The English have aban- 
doned recently the system of issuing the grants according to 
the examinations passed by the pupils, but they still have con- 
siderable reform to work before the curriculum, which theoret- 
ically offers such splendid opportunities for electives, can 
possess in this respect more than a hypothetical worth. 

As to the grades in which the subjects are taught, the tend- 
ency seems to be to follow among the required studies the Ger- 
man plan which requires that a subject once introduced shall 
continue with no decrease of time allotment to the end of the 
course. However, the scores indicate that there is one grade 
which could be called the center towards which the subjects 
seem to gravitate. Subjects regarded as of preeminent impor- 
tance, such as religion and the "three R's," of course, appear 
equally popular in each grade. 

Reading possesses the peculiarity in England of being 
more popular as it advances towards the higher grades. This 
is due to the fact that much history, geography, science and 
literature is taught in the special readers. 

The tendency towards an emphasis on formal studies and 
also the practice of grafting high school subjects on to the 
elementary curriculum without adequate preparation are illus- 
trated in the case of Grammar and Algebra. Instruc- 
tion in grammar begins in the second grade, a practice found 
nowhere else in this investigation. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 81 

The high scores of Geography in the earlier grades 
indicate prominent attention to home geography. The grades 
round which it tends to center are the fourth, fifth and sixth. 

The scores occurring in the columns for History and for 
Literature are indicative of the comparatively slight im- 
portance attached to these subjects. To one educated in Amer- 
ican schools neither of them seems to receive its just due. His- 
tory does not come to its greatest prominence until the fourth 
grade is reached; while literature, when taught, is about as 
prominent in one grade as another, — a practice novel to the 
American school teacher. 

The subject most frequently taught in the English schools 
to children from the age of three to fourteen is Singing. 
It does not exceed the "three R's" in quantity of time, but it 
excels all others in distribution. In the Statistics of the Board 
of Education for 1904, p. 10, it is stated that the number of 
departments both for older and for infant children amounts 
to 31,548 for all England. In only five of these is singing not 
taught. Has the American educational public as great an ap- 
preciation of this subject? Certainly in America the subject 
fails to be taught in twenty schools out of every hundred. 

Thus far the attempt has been to show from Table XXV. 
that there is complete adherence to the prescribed course of 
study in England so far as the required list is concerned. The 
" elective' ' list and the "extra grant" lists are not receiving 
prominent attention in England. We have tried to show the 
probable grade toward which subjects tend. We have also 
tried to show the relative importance attached to certain sub- 
jects, so far as Table XXV. would indicate. The conclusions 
were fairly definite as to singing, algebra, literature, history, 
manual training and grammar. In order to substantiate these 
conclusions, and to arrive at definite results with reference to 
the other subjects of instruction, it will be necessary to study 



82 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

the time allotments in the elementary schools. This shall be 
our next task. 

5. Time Allotments of the Various Subjects, ivith Special At- 
tention to Instruction in Religion, Handwork 
and Physical Culture. 

Tables XXVI.-XXXV., inclusive, were made from twenty- 
two curricula representing ten cities whose aggregate popula- 
tion is over six millions. For three of the cities, London, Man- 
chester and Bolton, it seemed advisable to average five time- 
tables each, making a composite which more nearly represented 
the city than would any individual school curriculum. Each 
school, and not each city system, is the unit in England. For 
this reason, the schools of a large city show as great a variation 
in time allotment as two different cities, and sometimes greater. 
The English excel all other nations in adjusting the curricu- 
lum to the needs of the individual environment, within cer- 
tain prescribed limits. 

A low time allotment to a subject in a table made up of sev- 
eral different schools would indicate possibly the absence of 
that subject upon one of the programs, or it might mean an 
insignificant amount of time spent upon it in several of the 
schools. In either case the relative unimportance is probably 
suggested by the environment. 

The ten cities furnishing the material for this study were 
London, Manchester, West Ham, Norwich, Carlisle, West 
Hartlepool, Wellingborough, Bolton, Castleford and New- 
castle. Two of them possess over a million people, three over 
one hundred thousand, two approximately fifty thousand and 
three range between fifteen and twenty thousand. The dis- 
tribution includes approximately all sections of England, rep- 
resenting eight counties. In each case the curriculum has 
been passed upon by H. M. Inspector. In many cases the In- 
spector himself collected the syllabi. In nearly every case 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 83 

the environment was analyzed to show the economic, industrial 
and social life from which the pupils came. The attendance 
and the staff of the school were also given. An adequate basis 
for the selection of representative curricula was thus fur- 
nished. The attempt was to include all the representative ele- 
ments of English life found in the public elementary schools. 
Factory districts, crowded city tenement districts, residential 
suburbs, coastal towns, mining sections, and wealthy neigh- 
borhoods are all represented. 

Each table is supposed to show five facts about the element- 
ary curriculum of that city : first, the subjects taught ; second, 
the grades in which they are taught ; third, the number of min- 
utes per week given to each subject in each grade ; fourth, the 
percentage of total weekly recitation time devoted to the re- 
spective subjects in each grade ; fifth, the percentage of total 
time devoted to each subject in the entire school life of the 
child. 



84 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XXVI. — Minutes of Recitation Time per week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
London, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet 


1 Scripture 


155 


158 


160 


153 


160 


155 


162 


162|11.8 


2 Heading 


180 


191 


188 


175 


159 


125 


121 


82|11.4 


6 Writing 


78 


89 


88 


68 


62 


94 


101 


70 


« 


4 Spelling 




29 


26 


20 


23 


19 


20 


10 


1.38 


5 Grammar 


55 


62 


61 


53 


56 


70 


105 


130 


5.54 


6 Literature 


34 


40 


43 


40 


41 


25 


44 


90 


3.34 


7 Composition 


62 


56 


87 


68 


41 


38 


34 


50 


4 


8 Arithmetic 


248 


234 


237 


242 


207 


161 


204 


162 


15.8 


Algebra 




1 6 


32 


48 


82 


173 


3.19 


9 Geography 


38 


64 


90 


94 


70 


65 


72 


85 


6.34 


10 History 


83 


41 


66 


50 


50 


54 


55 


70 


4.4 


12 Object Lessons 


73 


75 


56 


51 


39 


41 


45 


80 


4.3 


16 Physical Training 


50 


49 


56 


48 


50 


52 


65 


60 


4 


Swimming 




1 


8 


8 


10| 


(0) 


17 Drawing 


132 


105 


100 


106 


111 


130 


146 


202 


9.65 


18 Singing 


50 


57 


51 


60 


47 


47 


56 


70 


4 


19 Wood-work 




40 


40 


47 


70 


67 






2.47 


20 Needle-work* 


(52) 


(52) 


(72) 


(72) 


(84) 


(78) 


(97) ( 


(5.44) 


23 French 


25 


24 


12 


13 


12 


45 


50 


72 


2.37 


Exam, of Home-work 










10 


10 


13| 


Total 


1263 


1314 


1301 


1294 


1248 


1254| 1385 


1568| 


Percentage of Recit 


ation 


Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 


1 Scripture 


12.3 


12.1 


12 


11.9 


12.8 


12.4 


11.8 


10.3 




2 Reading 


14.3 


14.6 


13.8 


13.6 


12.8 


10 


8.8 


5.2 




3 Writing 


6.2 


6.8 


6.5 


5.3 


5 


7.5 


7.5 


4.5 




4 Spelling 




2.2 


* 


1.6 


1.9 


1.5 


1.5 


•7 




5 Grammar 


4.4 


4.8 


4.5 


4.1 


4.5 


5.6 


7.6 


8.3 




6 Literature 


2.7 


3.1 


3.2 


3.1 


3.3 


^ 


3.2 


5.7 




7 Composition 


o 


| 4.3 


6.4 


5.3 


3.3 


3.31 


2.5 


3.2| 


8 Arithmetic 


19.7 


18 


17.4 


18.8 


16.6 


12.9 


14.8 


10.3| 


Algebra 








.5 


2.6 


3.9 


« 


11 I 


9 Geography 


1 3 


| 4.9 


6.6 


7.3 


5.6 


5.2 


5.3 


5.4 1 


10 History 


6.6 


3.2 


4.9 


3.9 


4 


4.3 


4 


4.5 1 


12 Object Lessons 


| 5.8 


| 5.8 


4.1 


| 3.9| 3.1 


3.3 


3.3 


5.1| 


16 Physical Training 


4 


3.8 


4.1 


3.9 


4.7 


4.9 


5.5 


3.8| 


17 Drawing 


| 10.5 


8 


7.4 


8.2 


8.9 


10.3 


10.6 


12.9| 


18 Singing 


4 


4.4 


3.8 


t 4.7 


3.8 


3.8 


4.1 


4.5 1 



♦Figures enclosed within parenthesis In any table in this book indicate 
that the figures are to apply to recitation time for girls only. A cipher in- 
cluded within parenthesis is to indicate that the assignment does not apply 
to recitation for girls. Manifestly the figures in parentheses should not be 
counted in averaging the percentages of total time, as these figures are 
already counted in duplicate time assignments of recitations for boys. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 85 



Table XXVII.— Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Manchester, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


| 260 | 260 


| 260 


260 


260 


260 


260 


18.9 


2 Reading 


192 


| 178| 177 


148 


153 


111 


103 


11 


3 Writing 


| 120| 119| 111 


91 


46 


45 


38 


5.9 


4 Spelling 


44 


65 


54 


57 


32 


20 


35 


3.1 


5 Grammar 


65) 73| 77 


77 


87 


96 


99 


5.9 


6 Literature 


42 


41 


| 28 


28 


32 


39 


32 


2.5 


7 Composition 


10 


33 


68 


70 


68 


2.6 


8 Arithmetic 


259 


242 


235 


239 


205 


223 


205 


16.6 


Algebra 




42 


70 


68 


80 


2.7 


9 Geography 


50 


54 


99 


109 


110 


110 


110 


6.6 


10 History 


7 


7| 


7 


7 


7 


9 




12 Object Lessons 


70 


72 


26 


26 


26 


26 


26 


2.8 


13 Mensuration (b) 






12 


12 






16 Physical Training 


62 


61 


| 62 


62 


62 


63 


64 


4.5 


Swimming 


Once 


a weel 


: in soi 


ne schools. 






17 Drawing 


96 


98 


104 


110 


108 


120 


124 1 7.9 


18 Singing 


66 


64 


64 


60 


60 


62 


58 1 4.5 


19 Wood-work 










100 


96 


96 


3 


20 Needle-work 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120)|(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(8.7) 


23 French 










13 


22 


22 




Total 


1333 


1334 


1314 


1349 


1439 


1450 


1441| 


Percentage of Recitat 


ion 1 
Gi 


ime < 
•ade p 


levote 
er We 


d to 
ek. 


Each 


Subje 


ct in Each 


1 Scripture 


19.6 


19.6 


19.9 


19.3 


18.1 


18 


18.1 




2 Reading 


14.5 


13.4 


13.5 


ii 


10.6 


7.7 


7.2 




3 Writing 


9 


9 


8.5 


6.8 


3.2 


3.1 


2.7 




4 Spelling 


3.3 


4.9 


4.1 


4.2 


2.2 


1.4 


2.4 




5 Grammar 


4.9 


5.5 


5.9 


5.7 


6.1 


6.6 


6.9 




6 Literature 


3.2 


3.2 


2.2 


2.1 


2.2 


2.7 


2.2 




7 Composition 






.9 


2.5 


4.7 


4.8 


4.7 




8 Arithmetic 


19.5 


18.2 


18 


17.7 


14.3 


15.4 


14.3| 


Algebra 


3.1 


4.9 


' 4.7 


5.6 




9 Geography 


3.8 


3.9 


7.6 


8.1 


7.7 


7.6 


7.7 




10 History 


.6| 


1 






12 Object Lessons 


5.3 


5.4 


^ 


1.9 


1.8 


1.8 


1.8 


16 Physical Training 


4.7 


4.7 


4.8 


4.6 


4.2 


4.4 


4.5 




17 Drawing 


7.2 


7.3 


8 


8.2 


7.5 


8.3 


8.6 




18 Singing 


5 


5 


4.9 


4.5 


4.2 


4.3 


4 




19 Wood-work 


1 


1 


7 


6.5 


6.7 




20 Needle-work 


9 


9 


9.2 


8.9 


8.4 


8.3 


8.4 




23 French 


1 


1 


1 


1.5 


1.6 





86 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XXVIII. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
West Ham, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


175 


175 


175| 


176 


175 


175 


17b 12.1 


2 Reading 


210 


270 


175| 


lVb 


175 


140 


10b |12.4 


3 Writing 


70 


70 


35| 


35 


35 


35 


3b| 3.12 


4 Spelling 


175 


175 


175| 


175 


175 


175 


17b|12.1 


5 Grammar 




35 


35 1 


35 


35 


45 


4b| 2.b8 


6 Literature 


40 


40 


40 1 


40 


40 


40 


40| 2.78 


7 Composition 


100 


100 


100 1 2 


8 Arithmetic 


325 


325 


360 1 


360 


360 


325 


360| 24 


Algebra 


1 


3b 


3b | .7 


9 Geography 


35 


70 


70 1 


70 


70 


70 


70 


4.bl 


10 History 


35 


35 1 


35 


35 


3b 


3b 


2.8 


13 Elementary Science 


35 


35 


35 1 


35 


35 


3b 


3b 


2.43 


16 Physical Training 


35 


35 


35 1 


3b 


35 


3b 


3b 


2.43 


17 Drawing 


105 


105 


75 1 


105 


105 


10b 


10b 


7 


18 Singing 


70 


70 


70| 


70 


70 


70 


70 


4.86 


19 Wood-work 




1 


120 


120 


120 


3.b7 


20 Needle-work 


(165) 


(165)|(165)|(165) 


(165) (165)|(165) 


(11.4) 


Occupations 




40 


40 1 


40 


40 


40 


40 


2.38 


Domestic Economy 


60 


60 


60| 


40 


40 


40 


40| 3.37 


Total 


1275 


1480 


1355| 


1385 


1505 


1580 


lb80| 



Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Scripture | 13.8 


11.8 | 13 | 12.7 | 11.6 | 11.1 


11.1 




2 Reading | 16.6 


18.3 | 13 | 12.7 | 11.6 | 8.9 


6.7 




3 Writing b.b 


4.7 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.2 


2.2 




4 Spelling | 13.8 | 11.8 | 13 | 12.7 | 11.6 | 11.1 


11.1 




b Grammar | 3.2 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 24.1 


20.6 


22.8 




6 Literature 2.7 | 3 2.8 | 2.6 


2.5 


2.5 




7 Composition 


1 1 


6.3 


6.3 




8 Arithmetic | 2b.6 


22 | 26.7 | 26 


24.1 


20.6 


22.8 




9 Geography 


2.8 


4.7 | 5.2 


5 


4.6 


4.4 


4.4 




10 History 




2.3 | 2.6 


2.6 | 2.3 


2.2 | 2.2 




13 Elementary Sci- 
ence 


2.8 


2.3 1 2.6 


2.6 


2.3 


2.2 


2.2 




16 Physical Train- 
ing 


2.8 


2.3 


2.6 


2.6 


2.3 


2.2 


2.2 




17 Drawing 


8.3 


7 | 5.6 


7.6 


7 


6.7 | 6.7 




18 Singing 


b.5 


4.7 | 5.2 


5 


4.6 


4.4 | 4.4 




20 Needle-work 


(13) 


(11.2)|(12.2) 


(12) |(11.8) 


(10.5)|(10.5) 




Occupations 




2.7 | 3 


2.8 | 2.6 


2.5 | 2.5 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 87 



Table XXIX. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Bolton, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


196 


197 


207 


207 


207 


207 


207 1 13.2 


2 Reading 


210 


210 


218 


190 


206 


202 


167 1 12.9 


3 Writing 


162 


119 


168 


148 


1V0 


170 


157|10.1 


5 Grammar 


57 


59 


95 


92 


92 


85 


92 1 5.25 


6 Literature 


56 


52 


39 


45 


45 


45 


45| 3 


7 Composition 


26 


26 


26 


26 


30 


30 


30| 1.78 


8 Arithmetic 


213 


235 


227 


286 


282 


299 


291 116.8 


Algebra 






24 


30 


66| 1.11 


9 Geography 


74 


74 


86 


98 


86 


88 


88 1 5.49 


10 History 




6 


12 


35 


28 


28 


28| 1.26 


11 Object Lessons 




1 


1 


12 Elementary Science 


71 


63 


77 


50 


47 


47 


47 1 3.64 


13 Nature Study 




1 


1 




16 Physical Training 


61 


62 


62 


63 


62 


62 


62 1 4 


17 Drawing 


133 


144 


136 


118 


113 


113 


113| 8 


18 Singing 


57 


54 


54 


50 


54 


54 


55 1 3.47 


Paper Folding, etc. 


35 


35 


8 


6 


« 


20 


20 1 1.2 


20 Needle-work 


(131) | ( 


(138) |C L38) |(8.74 


Total 


1482 


1467 


1533 


1552 


1590 


1618 


1606| 


Percentage of Recitat 


ion 1 
G] 


'ime devote 
*ade per W< 


d to 
$ek. 


Each 


Subject in Each 


1 Scripture 


13.3 


13.5 


13.4 


13.4 


13 


12.8 


12.8 




2 Reading 


14.2 


14.4 


14.1 


12.3 


1 1^ 


12.5 


10.3 




3 Writing 


11 


| 8.2 


10.9 


9.6 


| 10.7 


10.5 


9.7 




5 Grammar 


3.8 


4.1 


6.1 


6 


5.8 


5.3 


5.7 




6 Literature 


3.8 


3.6 


2.5 


3 


2.8 


2.8 


2.8 




7 Composition 


1.8 


1.8 


1.7 


1.7 


| 1.9 


1.9 


1.9 




8 Arithmetic 


14.4 


| 16.1 


14.7 


18.5 


| 17.7 


18.5 


18 




Algebra 










| 1.5 


1.9 


4.1 




9 Geography 


5 


| 5.1 


5.6 


6.3 


| 5.4 


5.4 


5.4 




10 History 




1 -8 


.8 


2.3 


| 1.8 


1.7 


1.7 




12 Object Lessons 


















13 Elementary Science 


| 4.8 


| 4.3 


5 


3.3 


| 2.9 


3 


3 




14 Nature Study 


















16 Physical Training 


1 4.1 


| 4.2 


4 


1 4 


| 3.9 


3.8 


3.8 




1» Drawing 


1 9 


| 9.9 


8.8 


| 7.6 


1 7.1 


7 


7 




18 Singing 


| 3.9 


| 3.7 


| 3.5 


| 3.3 


| 3.4 


3.3 


3.4 




19 Wood- work 


| 2.4 


| 2.4 


.5 


1 -5 


1 -5 


1.2 


1.2 




20 Needle-work 


I (8.9) 


I (9) 


I (9) 


1 O) 


1 (8.7) 


(8.5) 


1 (8.5) 





88 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XXX. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Norwich, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet. 
10.5 


1 Scripture 


175| 


175| 


175| 


175| 


175| 


14b 


145j 


2 Reading 


240 1 


240 1 


160| 


160 1 


80 1 


40 


80 1 9.5 


3 Writing 


160| 


40 1 


40| 


40| 


40| 


40 


40| 3.64 


4 Spelling 


30 1 


90 1 


120| 


115| 


120| 


100 


100| 6.21 


5 Grammar 


90 1 


60 1 


60 1 


60 1 


60 1 


60 


60| 4.15 


6 Literature 


401 


40 1 


40| 


40| 


40 1 


40 


40| 2.58 


7 Composition 


170| 


265 1 


265 1 


230| 


200 1 


235 


200 1 14.3 


8 Arithmetic 


240 1 


240 1 


200 1 


240 1 


240 1 


240 


200 1 15. 


9 Geography 


80 1 


80 1 


80 1 


80 1 


80 1 


80 


80| 5.11 


10 History 


40| 


40| 


40| 


40| 


40 1 


40 


80| 2.92 


12 Object Lessons 


40| 


40| 


40| 


40| 


40 1 


40 


40 


2.6 


13 Elementary Science 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 






16 Physical Training 


60 1 


60 1 


60 1 


60 1 


60| 


60 


60| 3.3 


17 Drawing 


120| 


120| 


160| 


160| 


160| 


160 


120 


9 


18 Singing 


40 1 


40 1 


40| 


40| 


80 1 


80 


80 


4 


19 Manual Training 


40| 


40 1 


40 1 


40| 


40| 


150 


150 


4.6 


Exam, of Home-work 


50| 


50 1 


50 1 


50 1 


50 1 


50 


50 


3.25 


Total 


1615| 


1620| 


1570| 1570| 1545| 1555 


1525 





Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Scripture | 10.8| 10.8| 11.2| 11. 2| 11.3| 9.4| 9.4 




2 Reading | 14.8| 14.8| 10.2| 10.2| 5.2 


2.6| 5.2 




3 Writing | 9.9| 2.5| 2.6| 2.6| 2.6 


2.6| 2.6 




4 Spelling | 1.9| 5.6| 7.7 


7.3| 7.8 


6.8| 6.6 




5 Grammar 5.6| 3.7 j 3.8 


3.8| 3.9 


3.9| 3.2 




6 Literature | 2.5| 2.5| 2.6| 2.6| 2.6 


2.6| 2.6 




7 Composition | 10.5| 16.4| 16.9| 14.7| 13 


15.2| 13.1 




8 Arithmetic | 14.8| 14.8| 12.8| 15.3| 15.5 


15.5 1 13.1 




9 Geography | 5 | 5 | 5.1 1 5.1| 5.2 


5.2| 5.2 




10 History | 2.5| 2.5| 2.6| 2.6| 2.6 


2.6| 5.2 




12 Object Lessons | 2.5| 2.5| 2.6| 2.6| 2.6 


2.6| 2.6 




13 Elementary Science 






16 Physical Training | 3.7| 3.7| 3.6| 3.6 


3.9 


3.9| 4 




17 Drawing | 7.4 1 7.4 1 10.2 


10.2 


10.2 


10.2| 7.9 




18 Singing 1 2.5| 2.5| 2.6 


2.6| 5.2 


5.2 


5.2 




19 Wood-work | 2.5| 2.5| 2.6| 2.6| 2.6 


9.7 


9.8 




Exam, of Home-work 3.1 1 3.1 1 3.2 1 3.2 1 3.2 


3.2 


3.3 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 89 

Table XXXI.^-Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Carlisle, England. 



Grade 


I. II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


35 1 35 


35 1 


35 


35 


35 


2.54 


2 Reading 


220 1 220 


195 1 


150 


150 


150 


13.1 


3 Writing 


100 1 100 


100 1 


55 


55 


55 


5.61 


4 Spelling 


135| 135 


135 1 


135 






6.51 


5 Grammar 


55 1 55 


55 1 


95 


90 


90 


5.31 


6 Literature 


75| 75 


75| 


75 


75 


75 


5.43 


7 Composition 


55 1 55 


55 1 


50 


190 


190| 7.1/ 


8 Arithmetic 


250 1 250 


250| 


420 


385 


425 


23.9 


9 Geography 


80 1 80 


80 1 


80 


80 


80 


5.79 


10 History 


80 1 80 


80 1 


55 


55 


55 


4.88 


16 Physical Training 


100 1 100 


120| 


30 


70 


30 
125 


5.43 


17 Drawing 


125 1 125 


125|~ 


125 


125 


9. 


18 Singing 


75 1 75 


75 1 


75 


75 


75 


5.43 


Total 


1385| 1385| 3380| 


1380 


1385 


1385 





Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Scripture 


26 


26 


26 | 26 


26 


26 




2 Reading 


lb 


16 


14.2( 10.9 


10.9 


10.9 




3 Writing 


7.3 


7.3 


7.3| 4 


4 


4 




4 Spelling 


9.8 


9.8 


9.8| 9.8 








5 Grammar 


4 


4 


4 | 6.9 


6.5 


6.4 




6 Literature 


5.5 


5.5 


5.5| 5.5 


5.5 


5.5 




7 Composition 


4 


4 


4 | 3.6 


13.8 


13.8 




8 Arithmetic 


18.1 


18.1 


18.1 


30 


27.9 


30 




9 Geography 


5.8 


5.8 


5.8 


5.8 


5.8 


5.8 




10 History 


5.8 


5.8 


5.8 


4 


4 


4 




16 Physical Training 


7.3 


7.3 


8.7 


2.2 


5.1 


2.2 




17 Drawing 


9.1 


9.1 


9.1 


9.1 


9.1 


9.1 




18 Singing 


5.5 


5.5 


5.5 


5.5 


5.5 


5.5 





90 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XXXII. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
West Hartlepool, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125 


125| 11.7 


2 Reading 


175 


175 


170 


90 


90 


70 


70 


70| 10.7 


3 Writing 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70| 6.6 


6 Literature 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100| 9.4 


8 Arithmetic 


240 


240 


300 


300 


300 


300 


280 


280| 26.3 


Algebra 


1 


1 




100 


100 


100 


3.5 


10 History 


45 


45 


45 


45 


45 


45 


45 


45 


4.2 


13 Elementary 
Science 


100 


100 


100 


100 


105 


105 


105 


105 


9.6 


17 Drawing 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


11.3 


18 Singing 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


70 


6.6 


19 Needle-work 


(240)|(240) 


(240)|(240) 


(240) 


(240) 


(240) 


(240) 


(22.6) 


Total 


1045 


1045 


1100 


1030 


1025 


1105 


1085 


1085| 


Percentage of E 


.ecitat 


ion Time devoted to 
Grade per Week. 


Each 


Subject in Each 


1 Scripture 


12.1 


12.1 


11.3 


12.3 


12.3 


11.3 


11.6 


11.6 




2 Reading 


16.9 


1(5.9 


15.4 


8.9 


8.9 


6.3 


6.5 


6.5 




3 Writing 


6.8 


6.8 


6.3 


6.9 


6.9 


6.3 


6.5 


6.5 




6 Literature 


9.7 


9.7 


a 


9.9 


9.9 


9 


9.3 


9.3 




8 Arithmetic 


23.1 


23.1 


27.1 


29.3 


29.5 


27.1 


26 


26 




Algebra 


1 




9 


9.3 


9.3 




10 History 


4.4 


4.4 


4.1 


4.5 


4.5 


4.1 


4.2 


4.2 




13 Elementary 
Science 


9.7 


9.7 


9 


9.9 


10.3 


9.5 


9.8 


9.8 




17 Drawing 


11.6 


11.6 


10.9 


11.8 


11.8 


10.9 


11.2 


11.2 




18 Singing 


6.8 


6.8 


6.3 


6.9 


6.9 


6.3 


6.5 


6.5 




19 Needle-work 


23.1 


23.1 


21.7 


23.6 


23.6 


21.7 


22.3 


22.3 








PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 91 



Table XXXIII. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
New Castle-under-Lyme, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. V. 


VI. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


175| 175 


175 


175| 175| 


175 


12 


2 Reading 


255| 155 


150 


150| 165| 


165 


11.9 


3 Writing 


235| 110 


150 


190| 120| 


120 


10.6 


4 Spelling 


70| 145 


70 


1 1 


3.3 


5 Grammar 


30 1 80 


115 


145 1 135| 


135 


7.3 


6 Literature 


40 


30 


30 


45 1 45 1 


45 


2.7 


7 Composition 




75 


80 


80 1 85 1 


85 


4.6 


8 Arithmetic 


220 


230 


225 


315| 315| 


315 


18.5 


9 Geography 


45 


80 


90 


115| 115| 


115 


6.4 


12 Object Lessons 


90 


80 


75 


45| 45| 


45 


4.3 


16 Physical Training 


00 


60 


60 


60| 60 | 


60 


4.1 


17 Drawing 


120 


120 


120 


120| 120| 


120 


8.2 


18 Singing 


90 


90 


90 


90| 90 | 


90 


6.2 


Total 


1430| 1430| 1430| 1530| 1470| 1470 





Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Scripture 


12.3| 


12.3| 


12.3 


11.51 


11.9| 11.9| 


2 Reading 


17.9| 


10.9| 


10.5 


9.8| 


11.2| 11.2| 


3 Writing 


16.5| 


7.7| 


10.5 


12.4 1 


8.2 1 8.2| 


4 Spelling 


4.9| 


10.2| 


4.9 


1 


1 


5 Grammar 


2.1| 


5.6) 


8.1 


9.5 1 


9.2 1 9.2| 


6 Literature 


J* 1 


2.1| 


2.1 


2.9| 


3.1| 3.1| 


7 Composition 


1 


5.3| 


5.6 


5.2| 


5.8| 5.8| 


8 Arithmetic 


15.4| 


16.1| 


15 


20.6| 


21.4| 21.4| 


9 Geography 


3.2| 


5.6| 


6.3 


7.5 


7.8| 7.8| 


12 Object Lessons 


6.3 1 


5.6| 


5.3 


2.9| 


3.1| 3.1| 


16 Physical Training 


4.2 j 


4.21 


4.2 


3.9| 


4.1| 4.1| 


17 Drawing 


8.4) 


8.4| 


8.4 


7.9 1 


8.2| 8.2| 


18 Singing 


6.3 1 


6.3| 


6.3 


5.9| 


B.2J 6.2| 



92 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XXXIV. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Wellingborough, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


175 


175 


175 


175 


175 


175 


13.1 


2 Reading 


130 


130 


90 


90 


90 


90 


7.8 


3 Writing 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


2.3 


4 Spelling 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


30 


2.3 


5 Grammar 


40 


40 


40 


40 


40 


40 


3.1 


6 Literature 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


4.5 


7 Composition 


40 


40 


40 


40 


150 


150 


5.8' 


8 Arithmetic 


340 


340 


340 


340 


310 


310 


24.8 


Algebra 












70 


.8 


9 Geography 


80 


80 


120 


120 


120 


120 


8. 


10 History 


60 


60 


80 


80 


80 


80 


5.5 


12 Object Lessons 


80 


80 


80 


30 






3.4 


16 Physical Training 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


4.5 


17 Drawing 


160 


160 


160 


160 


160 


160 


11.9 


18 Singing 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


50 


3.8 


19 Wood-work 










120 


120 


3.1 


20 Needle-work 


(160) 


(160) 


(160) 


(160) 


(160) 


(160) 


(11.9) 


Total 


1335 


1335 


1355 


1305 


1475 


1645 




Percentage of Recitatior 


l Tim 
Grade 


i devc 
; per ^ 


ted tc 
Veek. 


Each 


Subject in 


Each 


1 Scripture 


13.8 


13.8 


13.6 


14 


12.3 


11 




2 Reading 


10.3 


10.3 


7 


7.2 


6.4 


5.7 




3 Writing 


2.4 


2.4 


2.4 


2.4 


2.1 


1.9 




4 Spelling 


2.4 


2.4 


2.4 


2.4 


2.1 


1.9 




5 Grammar 


3.2 


3.2 


3.1 


3.2 


2.8 


2.5 




6 Literature 


4.8 


4.8 


4.7 


4.8 


4.2 


3.8 | 


7 Composition 


3.2 


3.2 


3.1 


3.2 


10.6 


9.4 | 


8 Arithmetic 


26.8 


26.8 


26.4 


27.2 


21.9 


19.5 | 


Algebra 












4.4 | 


9 Geography 


6.3 


6.3 


9.3 


9.6 


8.5 


7.6 




10 History 


4.8 


4.8 


6.2 


6.4 


5.7 


4.4 




13 Elementary Science 


6.3 


6.3 


9.3 


9.6 


8.5 


7.6 




16 Physical Training 


4.8 


4.8 


4.7 


4.8 


4.2 


3.8 




17 Drawing 


12.6 


12.6 


12.4 


12.8 


11.3 


10.1 




18 Singing 


4 


4 


3.9 


4 


3.5 


3.2 




19 Wood-work 










8.5 


7.6 




20 Needle-work 


(12.6) 


(12.6) 


(12.4) 


(12.8) 


(11.3) 


(10.1) 





PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 93 



Table XXXV. — Minutes of Recitation Time per week devoted to 
Each Subject in Each Grade, and Percentage of Total Time 
given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Castleford, England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. V. 


VI. Pet. 


1 Scripture 


75 


75 


75 


75 | 75 


75 | 4.9 


2 Reading 


290 


290 


290 


210 | 240 


240 |17.4 


3 Writing 


60 


60 


60 


60 | 60 


60 | 4 


4 Spelling 


180 


180 


120 


45 | 45 


45 | 6.9 


5 Grammar 


30 


30 


75 


75 | 75 


75 | 4 


6 Literature 


30 


30 


30 


60 | 60 


60 | 3 


7 Composition 


120 


45 


45 


45 | 90 


90 | 4.8 


8 Arithmetic (Boys) 


335 


335 


335 


335 | 335 


335 |22.5 


Arithmetic ( Girls ) 


275 


275 


275 


275 | 275 


275 |(18.5) 


9 Geography 


60 


60 


90 


140 | 140 


140 | 7 


10 History 








60 | 60 


60 | 2 


12 Object Lessons 












13 Elementary Science 


60 


60 


60 


60 | 60 


60 | 4 


16 Physical Training 


60 


60 


60 


60 | 60 


60 | 4 


17 Drawing 


150 


150 


150 


150 | 150 


150 |10 


18 Singing 


75 


75 


75 


75 | 75 


75 | 4.9 


20 Needle-work 


160 


160 


160 


160 | 160 


160 |10.7 


Drawing (Girls) 


(50) 


(50) 


(50) 


(50)| (50) 


(50)|(3.4) 


Cooking 


(80) 


(80) 


(80) 


(80)| (80) 


(80)|(5.4) 


Total 


1525 | 1450 


1465 | 1450 | 1525 


1525 | 


Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 


1 Scripture 


5 5.2 | 5.2 


5.2 | 5 5 


2 Reading 


19 


20 


19.9 


14.5 | 15.8 


15.8 | 


3 Writing 


4.2 


4.1 


4.2 | 4 


4 


4 Spelling 


11.9 


12.4 8.2 


3 3 


3 1 


5 Grammar 


2 


2.1 | 5.2 


5.2 | 5 


5 


6 Literature 


2 


2.1 | 2 


4.2 | 4 


4 


7 Composition 


7.9 


3 | 3 


3 6 


6 


8 Arithmetic (Boys) 


22.1 


23.2 | 23 


23.2 | 22.1 


22.1 | 


Arithmetic (Girls) 


(18 ) 


(19 ) |(18.9) 


(19 ) | (18 ) 


(18 )| 


9 Geography 


4 


4.2 | 6.2 


9.7 | 9.2 


9.2 | 


10 History 




1 


4.2 | 4 


4 


12 Object Lessons 




1 






lo Elementary Science 


4 


4.2 | 4.1 


4.2 | 4 


16 Physical Training 


4 


4.2 | 4.1 


4.2 | 4 4 


17 Drawing 


10 


10.4 | 10.4 


10.4 | 10 | 10 | 


Drawing (Girls) 


(3.3) 


(3.5)| (3.5) 


(3.5)| (3.3)| (3.3)| 


18 Singing 


5 


5.2 | 5.1 


5.2 | 5 5 | 


20 Needle-work 


10.5 


11.1 | 11 


11.1 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 


Cooking 


5.2 


5.2 | 5.4 


5.5 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 



94 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

These tables should offer evidence corroborative of the facts 
already brought out in the previous tables. With reference 
to the distribution of subjects by departments, the evidence 
offered is at once conclusive. The facts tabulated here, while 
complementary to the former tables, are yet more definite and 
more conclusive. For the amount of time spent in teaching 
a subject is the most prominent factor in the measurement of 
the importance of that subject. The presence of a subject in 
several grades, together with a large amount of time devoted 
to its recitation, especially when found in the more progressive 
systems, would indicate the ideal towards which the schools 
on the whole are struggling. We have attempted to secure 
the more progressive of the curricula of the city schools, know- 
ing that the trend of thought embodied in them probably in- 
fluences the curricula of other towns. 

The reader must be cautioned that the figures given in these 
columns must of necessity offer only a relative and not an 
absolute measurement of the national practice. There will be 
exceptions to all the cases enumerated. However, we think 
that the evidence points toward a close adherence to what is 
found in these tables so far as England is in question. 

Before entering into the discussion of the content of the sub- 
ject matter of Tables XXVI.-XXXV., it is necessary to intro- 
duce Tables XXXVI. and XXXVII. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 95 

Table XXXVI. — Showing the Average Recitation Time in Minutes 
per Week devoted to Each Subject in Each Grade (or Standard) 
in Ten Cities of England. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture 


155 1 


| 156 


156 


156 


156 


156 


156|11.4 


2 Reading 


210 


206 


181 


154 


140 


127 


108 


76|11.1 


3 Writing 


123 


91 


85 


78 


69 


62 


73 


70 1 6 


4 Spelling 


66 


85 


60 


58 


43 


39 


33 


5| 3.57 


5 Grammar 


42 


49 


66 


67 


67 


70 


67 


65| 4.5 


6 Recitation or 
Literature 


52 


1 

57 


56 


53 


54 


53 


50 


95 


4.2 


7 Composition 


43 


52 


61 


54 


85 


99 


72 


25 


4.5 


8 Arithmetic 


267 


266 


276 


308 


294 


293 


257 


231 


20.1 


Algebra 


3 


* 


3 


5 


13 


35 


61 


136 


2.38 


9 Geography 


53 


64 


80 


91 


87 


88 


70 


97 


5.7 


10 History 


32 


38 


37 


42 


40 


40 


34 


58 


2.9 


12 Object Lessons 

13 Elementary 

Science 

14 Nature Study 


62 


61 


55 


44 


40 


41 


46 


92 


4 


16 Physical 

Training 


48 


49 


52 


42 


46 


43 


29 


30 


3.1 


17 Drawing 


115 


125 


125 


127 


127 


130 


121 


95 


8.8 


18 Singing 


64 


64 


64 


64 


67 


67 


65 


70 


4.8 


19 Wood-work 


8 


16 


19 


18 


50 


61 


71 




2.1 


20 Needle-work 


(103) 


(103) 


(106) 


(106) 


(107)|(106)|(126) 


(157) 


(8.3) 


21 Cooking 


(14) 


(14) 


(14) 


(12) 


(12) 


(12) 


(12) 




( -8) 


22 French 


4 


4 


a 


* 


a 


29 


36 


47 


1.1 


Total | 


1347 


1369 


1361 


1359 


1380 


1433 


1359 


1338 





Showing the Average Percentage of Recitation Time given to Each 
Subject in Each Grade in Ten Cities of England. 



1 Scripture 


11.5 


11.3 


11.5 


11.5 


11.3 


10.9 


11.5 


11.7 




2 Reading 


15.6 


15.1 


13.3 


11.3 


10.2 


8.9 


7.9 


5.7 




3 Writing 


8.9 


6.7 


6.3 


5.8 


4.9 


4.4 


5.4 


5.2 




4 Spelling 


4.9 


6.2 


4.4 


4.3 


3.1 


2.7 


2.4 


.4 




5 Grammar 


3.1 


3.6 


4.9 


4.9 


4.9 


4.9 


4.9 


4.9 




6 Recitation or 
Literature 


3.9 


3.7 


3.7 


3.9 


3.9 


3.7 


3.7 


7.1 




7 Composition 


3.2 


3.8 


4.5 


3.9 


6.2 


6.9 


5.3 


1-9 


8 Arithmetic 


19.8 


19.4 


19.9 


22.7 


21.3 


20.5 


18.9 


16.5 




Algebra 


.2 


•^ 


1.2 


.4 


.9 


2.5 


4.5 


10.2 




9 Geography 


3.9 


4.7 


5.9 


6.7 


6.3 


6.2 


5.2 


9.3 




10 History 


2.4 


2.8 


2.7 


3.1 


3.9 


2.8 


3.4 


6.9 




13 Elementary 

Science, etc. 


4.6 


4.5 


4.1 


3.3 


3.9 


2.8 


3.4 


6.9 




16 Physical 

Training 


3.6 


3.6 


3.8 


3.1 


3.4 


3 


2.2 


2.9 




17 Drawing 


8.5 


9.1 


9.2 


9.4 


9.2 


9.1 


8.9 


7.1 




18 Singing 


4.8 


4.6 


4.7 


4.7 


4.9 


4.7 


4.8 


5.2 




19 Wood-work 


.6 


1.2 


.9 


.9 


3.6 


4.3 


5.2 




._ 


20 Needle-work 


(7.7) 


(7.5) 


(7.8) 


(7.8) 


(7.8) 


(7.4) 


(9.3) 


(10 ) 




21 Cooking 


(1.1) 


( -9) 


(1.1) 


( -9) 


( -9) 


( -9) 


( .9) 






22 French 


.3 


.3 


.1 


.1 


.1 


1.9 


2.7 


3.5 





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PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 97 

The sparse attendance upon the seventh grade and the rarity 
of the eighth grade very much depreciate the value of our 
figures in these tables (XXXVI. and XXXVII.) for these two 
grades. The high score in these two grades is not real, but 
only relative. There are only two eighth grades and only six 
seventh grades found in these ten cities, and yet this propor- 
tion of seventh and eighth grades is comparatively larger than 
would be found if a larger number of English cities were in- 
cluded in this study. The aggregates for the seventh grade 
were divided by six and those of the eighth by two for the 
averages instead of by ten as in the other grades. So that 
the figures in these two columns should be reduced to approach 
the real status for all England. But in Tables XXVI. to 
XXXV. the facts are true to the individual schools from 
which they were selected. 

The first subject on all English programs is Religion or 
Scripture as it is sometimes called. Of the seventy-eight ex- 
amined, not one failed to provide for the teaching of the Bible ; 
in the summary of the ten, arithmetic is the only subject which 
receives a larger time allotment. Study of this subject means 
Bible reading with comment and Bible study. A quotation 
from an English writer who sometimes indulges in sarcastic 
expressions with reference to the godlessness in the American 
and French schools, is pertinent here : t ' Parenthetically it may 
be stated that in practically all English primary schools un- 
denominational religion or Bible teaching forms part of the 
curriculum. Bible reading without comment would be ludi- 
crous if it were not pathetic. There are no Godless schools 
in England."* 

The religious instruction is held usually the first thirty or 

forty minutes of the morning immediately after the opening 

of school at nine o'clock, which is the very best period of the 

day, and frequently the programs show provision for work in 

* "The Making of Citizens," Hughes, p. 29. 



98 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

this subject at the last period of the day also. One hundred 
and fifty-five minutes per week throughout the eight grades is 
the average time assigned. The highest time allotment is 
found at Manchester, two hundred and sixty minutes per 
week ; the lowest in the extreme north of England at Carlisle, 
thirty-five minutes per week. 

The same provisions that occur in the Prussian law prevail 
in England, by means of which any child, if it is desired by 
his parents, may be excused from school during the conduct 
of the religious exercises. (Code, p. 185.) It is further stated 
in the law that "the Inspector shall not express any opinion as 
to time or allotment for religious observances or instruction, or 
as to the nature of such instruction, but shall confine himself 
to seeing that the prescribed amount of time is received for 
secular instruction. ' ' Religion and Scripture study, then, is 
not required, and not one cent of grant is paid for its pro- 
vision, and yet few schools or grades are without that subject. 

Table XXXVIII. gives a brief of the syllabus of the course 
of study in Scripture prescribed for the London schools by the 
School Board for the year ending July, 1904. The scores 
are so arranged as to show the importance of Biblical topics 
by reading the horizontal columns in which will appear the 
repetition of subjects from grade to grade. The word ' ' learn ' ' 
means memorize. There are twenty prominent sections, 
usually chapters, memorized by the pupil taking the entire 
elementary course. What a contrast must the scriptural 
knowledge of one of our children present to that of the least 
of these! The popular pedagogical cant stimulated into re- 
sponse by such accounts as the foregoing, is that memorizing 
the choice gems of the Bible is not studying the Bible. No 
one has claimed that for it, but only that it seems to supply 
a more hopeful basis for Bible knowledge than is found in the 
indescribable mental vacuity, in this respect, of the American 
school boy. 



100 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

In Reading the surprising feature is the small amounts of 
actual and of relative time. The percentage is scarcely more 
than half that found in the American tables, and the actual 
minutes per week in the primary grades are only half what 
they are in the American primary grades. But if the time 
devoted to the teaching of the Bible be added to the time given 
to reading, then the total is equal to the total time given to 
reading in America. The suggestion is that Bible teaching 
may be an auxiliary to reading, and that the English people 
teach this additional subject with no loss of time, whereas we 
omit it, and still save no time by the rather costly omission. 

The absence of Spelling on the required list of the Gov- 
ernment (see Table XXIV.) and its poor showing in the 
grade summary of Table XXV., are further corroborated in 
the time allotment tables by an average of only 3.5 per cent 
(Table XXXVI. ). 

The relative total time given to Language is practically 
the same as with us, but the absence of stress upon literature 
and the accentuation of formal grammar already mentioned, 
are clearly shown by these tables. It appears also that atten- 
tion is given to grammar in the earlier grades, while it is very 
rarely taught before the fourth grade with us. 

In Arithmetic the English course shows 3 per cent more 
time than the American, with about 5 per cent more in the 
earlier grades. Mathematics shows relatively more time in 
England than in any of the four countries examined. If the 
2.38 per cent given to algebra be added to the percentage for 
arithmetic, it will be seen that this study exceeds the next 
most prominent subject by 11.38 per cent. Mental arithmetic 
is also included in most of the syllabi, its prominence being 
an English distinction. 

Handwork. — Drawing for boys and sewing for girls are 
given at the same time. Consequently, the parenthesis refers 
to the fact that the subject enclosed is not to be counted in 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 101 

getting the total weekly recitation time. In each of these sub- 
jects much more earnest activity is shown than with us. There 
is over 2 per cent more time given to drawing than is given in 
any American school. While sewing is an unknown subject 
in most American schools, it receives 8.3 per cent of the total 
recitation time of girls in these twenty-two English schools. 

It may very much surprise the enthusiastic advocates of the 
"new education " in America to learn from the data herewith 
compiled, that a child is offered a far wider selection of courses 
in handwork in the English elementary school than in 
America. The following quotation is from * ' The Educational 
System of Great Britain and Ireland" (pp. 39-42), by Graham 
Balfour : * ' The whole tendency of the education of young chil- 
dren in England of late years has been in the direction of 
sense training, — object lessons and manual employment. The 
chief subjects for girls encouraged by the Department of 
Elementary Schools are (besides needlework and cutting out) 
cookery, domestic economy, laundry work, dairy work, prac- 
tical housewifery and domestic science. Boys are encouraged 
to take shorthand, book-keeping, agriculture, cottage garden- 
ing, drawing and manual training. Since 1890 drawing has 
been compulsory for boys and manual training has been placed 
on the extra-grant list in public elementary schools." Our 
tables have borne out this claim.. 

Physical Culture. — More actual time and attention are 
spent in the care of the health and the development of the 
physical self in the schools of England than in either Prance, 
Germany or America. The time allotments, while making a 
fairly good showing, do not properly indicate the status of 
physical culture in the English schools, for the English organ- 
ize games in the recess periods and conduct numerous system- 
atic sports after school hours that are not shown in the time 
allotments. Physical culture in America is almost entirely 
confined to the indoor gymnastics, whenever such is offered. 



102 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Recess counts for very little as compared with the two-hour 
periods of England. Even when it is sufficiently long to serve 
the purpose of recreation the teacher in America has very 
little to do with it. We are content to urge the advantages of 
parks and playgrounds for our children, and plenty of room 
and air, and to leave it at that. These offer opportunities, but 
they furnish no guarantee of physical development. 

6. Analysis of the Content of Studies into Topics. 

We have discussed the importance of subjects in the cur- 
riculum of English elementary schools as measured (1) by the 
judgment of the Board of Education, (2) by the distribution 
of schools adopting certain subjects, (3) by the recurrence in 
several successive grades of the same subject and (4) by the 
quantity of time devoted to each subject. It now only re- 
mains to consider the intrinsic value of a subject as measured 
by what there is in it. "What are the topics into which one 
large subject is divided?" we ask. And again, "In what 
grades and in how many grades are these topics taught?" 
The answer to this last question will help to find the important 
topics in a given subject, as measured by the schools and 
teachers of England. 

The following five tables, XXXIX.-XLIIL, answer the 
above questions without the need of comment. Some of the 
topics overlap, but an omission of a topic or a synthesis of 
topics of this character would have destroyed the value of 
the topics. Twenty-two of the larger cities and towns, located 
in eight different counties, are represented in four of the 
tables. The analysis of nature study is made up from seven- 
teen curricula. The figures show the number of curricula in 
which a subject is taught within a given grade. A topic may 
be repeated for the sake of review, or it may receive more 
stress in certain grades, or it may be distributed throughout 
all the grades. 






PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 103 

Table XXXIX. — Showing the Topics in Arithmetic and their Distri- 
bution by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of twenty- 
two English Cities. 



Standard 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Notation and Numeration 


12 | 8 | 




Addition 


20 | 15 


10 1 \ 1 




Subtraction 


20 | 15 


12 | | 




Multiplication 


15 | 20 


19 | 2 | 






Division 


9 | 21 


22 | 2 | 






Denomination Numbers 




| 21 | 15 | 12 




Addition and Subtraction Fractions 




I | 7 | 3 




Common tractions 




1 | 14 | 10 


4 


Decimal Fractions 




4 


Wimple Proportion 








1 | 4 


17 


3 


Simple Interest 










18 


2 


Averages 










2 


7 


Percentages 








1 


4 


8 


Stocks 










1 


7 


Simple Rule of Three 








1 | 4 


5 




Bills of Parcels 






1 






Compound Proportion 








3 


3 


Investments 










1 


Greatest Common Divisor 
Lowest Common Multiple 




1 


2 


1 


Metric System 




4 | 5 


7 


7 


Square Root & Cube Root 


1 


1 | 2 


12 


1 


Mensuration 


1 


13 


2 



It will be noticed that nearly all of the topics in English 
are included under grammar. The literary reader, poetry and 
recitation receive a high score, a fact which somewhat modifies 
the former statement regarding the predominance of formal 
grammar and the absence of literature. A high score indi- 
cates the actual practice rather more than numerous topics 
do. However, to make the score of formal grammar equal to 
that of literature, in our opinion, is to give grammar too great 
prominence. 

The importance of Home Geography (p. 81), suggested 
by previous tables, is verified by Table XLI. The popu- 
larity of geographical definitions in the first and second grades 
would doubtless irritate an American specialist in geography 
or child psychology, because of the barrenness and abstraction 
of the topic to children of such an age. Numerous geograph- 
ical readers are used to teach many of the topics here outlined. 



104 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table XL. — Showing the Topics in the English Language and their 
Distribution by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of 
Twenty-two English Cities. 



Standard I. II. III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. VIII. 


Recitation | 13 | 10 | 11 


11 


12 


8 


6 1 


Literary Reader 7 | 7 | 7 


10 


8 


9 


6 | 


Poetry 2 | 2 


3 


2 


2 


2 1 


Orthography 3 j 3 | 3 


2 


2 


1 


1 1 1 


Etymology I 




2 


2 


1 


Composition 1 7 j 11 j 10 


11 


15 


11 


9 | 


GRAMMAR 




Subject and Predicate | 2 | 4 | 2 


1 


2 


1 




Verbs | 3 | 12 | 4 


4 


2 






Nouns ! 10 | 5 


2 


2 


1 




Adjectives 1 I t> | 10 


4 


3 


2 


1 


Adverbs I 1 | 1 | 7 


5 


2 


2 


| 1 


Pronouns 3 | 1) 


4 




1 


1 1 1 


Prepositions 1 


3 


1 




1 


Interjections 


1 






1 


Cases 1 | 




1 




1 | 


Agreement 1 




1 






Mood & Tense 1 j 




1 






Gender, Number, Person 1 | 2 




2 




1 | 


Punctuation I | 










Compound Sentences 1 




1 






Analysis & Parsing | 1 | 1 


8 


10 


11 


12 | 1 


Qualities of Verbs 1 | 1 


1 


1 




1 1 1 


Inflections 








1 | 


Conjunctions 1 1 


1 




1 




Parts of Speech | 2 | 4 | 


5 


4 


1 




Kinds of Sentences 1 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 




Conversation | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 


1 1 



The one conspicuous fact learned from Table XLII. on the 
topics in History is that various historical readers consti- 
tute the topics under this head. Local and national history- 
are presented in an excellent literary form. Many American 
historians have felt that this could not be done without 
compromising either the historical or literary ideal. It is in- 
teresting to notice, however, among the modern movements in 
America the attempt to secure primary histories with just the 
qualities found in the English readers. 

There seem to be fewer topics in Arithmetic than with 
us, and yet perhaps half of these might be omitted without 
detriment to the child. 

We come in Table XLIII. to a subject of instruction, Na- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 105 

Table XLL— Showing the Topics in Geography and their Distribution 
by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Twenty-two 
English Cities. 



Standard 


I. 


II 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VT. 


VTT. 


VIII. 


Home Geography 


9 


8 


2 | 










Definitions of Outlines of England 




4 


5 


j 1 










Outlines & Political Geography 
England & Wales 






14 


1 










Outlines and Political Geography 
of Ireland 






2 


1* 










Europe 
India 








3 


19 


1 


1 




Africa 










1 

2 


9 
6 


2 
5 




Foreign Possessions 










4 


11 


3 




Scotland 






3 


21 








1 


Australia 








5 


3 


6 


1 




United States 










2 


5 


H 




Outlines of Earth 


1 


1 




1 










Geographical Terms 


13 


13 


1 












Canada 








6 


4 


6 


4 




England 






2 


12 




2 


1 




New Zealand 








2 


4 


3 






Tasmania 








1 


1 


1 






Mexico 










| 1 


1 




Central and South America 










1 1 


1 


■ 


West Indies 








1 


2 


1 







Table XLII.— Showing the Topics in History and their Distribution 
by Grades in the Public Elementary Schools of Twenty-two 
English Cities. 



Standard 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VTT. 


Extra 
VIII. 


Historical Reader 


6 


9 


14 


1 17 


16 


16 


1 13 


1 


Tudor Period 






1 


5 


i i 


Stuart Period 






3 


6 


1 3 




Historical Biography 


1 


1 


1 


1 








Topics by English Sovereigns 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 


1 


1 | 




Stories from 1066 — Tudor Period 






1 3 








Norman Period 






1 


2 | 




General Outine English History 






1 2 




Plantagenet 




I I 1 


1 I 




Hanover 




1 1 1 


1 | 





tube Study, whose chief characteristic is its impenetrable 
confusion of topics. There were such numerous unrelated top- 
ics that it was impossible to give them all, so they have been 
grouped under the best known topics. This is not so difficult 
to do in an English school, for there the emphasis is more com- 
pletely laid upon the formal side of the study than with us. 
In two of the syllabi, there were one hundred and fifty-two 



106 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table XLIII. — Showing the Topics around which Object Lessons 
tend to be grouped in Seventeen English Schools, together with the 
Number of Cities and Grades in which They are taught. 



Standard 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Physics 


15 


13 


14 


12 


12 


10 


5 


Chemistry 




1 






1 


Physiology 


1 


1 


1 


4 


5 


2 


3 


Hygiene 


1 


1 


1 




2 1 




Animal Study 


4 


« 


8 


3 


1 


2 


3 


Plant Study 


1 


4 


4 


5 


4 


5 


4 


Neignboring Industries 


2 


2 | 




Geology | 


1 1 


1 


1 



topics, all of equal value. No casual sequence or any other 
kind of sequence seemed to bind the topics together. Not quite 
as much confusion was found in the ten American syllabi 
studied, but still there is little unity. 

Valuable experiments are being undertaken in some of the 
English schools looking toward making nature study a center 
of correlation. It is made the point of departure for teaching 
all the other subjects in the primary grades in several of the 
syllabi examined. One such syllabus was forwarded by the 
Inspector over his signature, stating that it was the best school 
showing the correlation around nature study in his district. 
The results did not seem to the present writer to warrant any 
definite conclusions, but it is mentioned here for the benefit of 
others who may wish to employ nature study in similar experi- 
ments. The work now being done in nature study in the Lon- 
don schools would well repay careful study upon the part of 
American educators. 

7. Method of Relief from the Overcrowded Curriculum. 

The foregoing topics afford several suggestions to the Amer- 
ican teacher interested in the relief of the Overcrowded 
Curriculum. In the first place there are few readers which 
are not geographical, historical, literature or nature study 
readers. The former criticism of the doubtful literary value of 
such readers is being rapidly dissipated in recent years. The 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 107 

study of geography and history is confined to text-books relat- 
ing to England and its possessions, leaving out the study of 
comparatively unimportant countries and making no effort, as 
we do, to cover the globe. In arithmetic, topics which do not 
have a place in the lives of the children are omitted, for exam- 
ple, rule of three, cube root, partial payments, Troy weight, etc. 
Even in language study the English have shown a tendency 
towards omission. In nature study they seem as much con- 
fused as we are, yet perhaps the grouping of the various topics 
under the pure sciences is an indication of an effort to system- 
atize. The outright omission of relatively unimportant sub- 
jects, and the grouping of many others around a few larger 
topics, are the suggestions from the English curriculum which 
may help us to a solution of the problem of overcrowding. 

8. Conclusions. 

In the previous pages we have presented data relative to 
several features in the English elementary curriculum, the 
larger part of it bearing directly upon the content, the time 
allotments, and the importance of the various subjects within 
the curriculum. The facts have been allowed to tell their own 
story, and to suggest in themselves the points of discussion. 
We have had no theories to prove, but have only been desirous 
of discovering the truth as presented by the data. Some of the 
conclusions have been mentioned immediately after expla- 
nation of the statements, and need not be repeated. But it may 
be well to state briefly certain other more general conclusions, 
whether derived in a negative or a positive way from this 
study. Space is not allowed to draw all the implications in- 
volved in the data; much is left for the interested educator 
to do. 

Summarizing then, we should say that the order of impor- 
tance attached to subjects by the English school is about as fol- 
lows. The "three R's," as usual, usurp the first place. The 



108 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

second rank will be contested for by religion on the one hand, 
as against grammar and composition combined on the other. 
The third place is disputed by drawing, needlework and sing- 
ing. Physical training should be placed fourth, when we re- 
member the great attention devoted to this subject during the 
long recess periods over and above that provided for within 
school hours. Geography and nature study take fifth place, 
while history comes last. These thirteen subjects, with the 
additional electives, make quite as rich an actual curriculum 
as is found in the American schools. 

Theoretically, the elective system of England is very desira- 
ble. It offers a wide scope for the individual development of 
the child and for adjustment to his individual environment. 
But owing to the coercive influences of the parliamentary 
grant system, few electives are really taught. However, Amer- 
ica will do well to learn from the ideal involved in the elective 
system. 

There is perhaps a larger actual provision in our curriculum 
for child development than in England, as we do not distribute 
the subjects over the grades so regardless of the capacities of 
the child as do the schools of England. In the second place, 
the grade is the basis of electives and not the pupil in Eng- 
land. While this perhaps offers a more sensible manner of 
providing electives for the school, yet it does not contribute as 
much to individual development as does the other form of of- 
fering electives. And yet, possibly, the English supply more 
subjects from the immediate knowledge and environment of 
the child, and make more appeals to motor-activity and to 
sense training than we do. 

The provisions of their curriculum would give more freedom 
to a principal and more help to a teacher, because the required 
syllabus and curriculum is individual to the school, whereas 
with us the same curriculum is given for the whole city. 






PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 109 

England may teach us how to discover a central bureau- 
cratic system which will unify the curriculum for the whole 
country and yet allow individual electives adaptable to differ- 
ent environments. 

Can there be an organic relation between the kindergarten 
and the primary grades ? The English answer in the affirma- 
tive, and show how it may be done, so far as the subject matter 
is concerned. 

There is an evil tendency shown by such high school subjects 
as algebra, French and pure science, to wedge their way into 
the elementary curriculum without preparation for them. 
Education by development is only possible with a curriculum 
which is itself a related whole and a development from the 
first to the eighth grade. 

More attention is given to motor-active subjects in England 
than in America, and at the same time more time and attention 
are given to the formal. They likewise give a great deal more 
memory work than we, in memorizing gems of literature and 
selections from the Bible, and in mental work in arithmetic. 
Our gain is in the volitional, semi-scientific and the aesthetic, 
represented by history, geography, reading and literature. 

The most severe criticism to be made upon the English cur- 
riculum is in regard to the absence of a serious provision for 
the emotional, the volitional, and in some senses, the aesthetic, 
in the curriculum, and the supreme predominance of the in- 
tellectual. 

We have criticised the English distribution of difficult sub- 
jects in grades containing children too young to grasp them; 
and yet we have the feeling that some plan providing for the 
study of different phases of a subject throughout several 
grades should be discovered in America. This would afford 
the opportunity for review which is so poorly provided for in 
the American curriculum. 



110 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Finally, it has been pointed out that the English avoid over- 
crowding of the curriculum (1) by an increase of recitation 
time, (2) by employing in reading books texts which relate to 
other subjects, (3) by a free omission of topics. 






CHAPTER III. 

THE CURRICULUM OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN CITIES 
OP GERMANY. 

1. Description of the Elementary Schools of Germany. 

The German people's school (Volksschule) has been chosen 
for this study as representative of the public elementary- 
schools of Germany. As a sufficient justification for this se- 
lection let us state that 5,236,826 school children were enrolled 
in the Volksschule of Germany in 1896,* whereas the latest re- 
ports show that only 5,670,870 children are enrolled in all the 
elementary and secondary schools of Germany. 

The German Empire is a federation of twenty-six states, 
composed of four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, 
seven principalities, three free cities and one imperial terri- 
tory. Each of these twenty-six states has a separate govern- 
ment. Each state maintains its own school system. There is 
no national system of education, nor is there a national law 
referring to education in the states as a whole. Hence, what- 
ever study is made of any phase of education in Germany 
must either apply to each state separately or to one state as a 
type of the others. 

It has been claimed by most writers that Prussia is repre- 
sentative of the entire twenty-six states. This opinion, in the 
main, will receive substantiation in the following pages, so far 
as the subjects of instruction are concerned. A brief account 
of the Prussian plan of regulating the course of study follows. 

♦Report of Commissioner of Education, 1899-1900, p. 769. 

Ill 



112 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

In Prussia the State exercises complete control in educa- 
tional affairs. There are no private schools in the sense that 
any school is free from governmental inspection and control. 
Both the selection of subjects taught and the certification of 
teachers are regulated by the central authority at Berlin.* 
Control in educational affairs is vested by the king of Prus- 
sia in the Minister of Education, whose official title is " Min- 
ister of Ecclesiastical, Educational and Medical Affairs.' ' 
He is a member of the King's Cabinet and possesses all 
the powers pertaining to a Cabinet officer. The will of the 
Minister is executed through four sets of school boards, whose 
executive and territorial authority decreases according to the 
order here named. The kingdom is divided (1) into thirteen 
provinces, each with its respective school board appointed by 
the Minister. These provinces are comparable in some respects 
to our States. (2) The thirteen provinces are each divided into 
thirty-six counties (Regierungen) with their respective school 
boards appointed in part by the king and in part by the pro- 
vincial school boards. (3) The counties are further divided 
into large townships, or districts (Kreis), comparable to our 
townships. Each township also has its school board. Each 
township school board appoints a special school committee for 
each school within its territory. 

The course of study for the elementary schools of Prussia, 
as is true in all the German schools, is prescribed in outline by 
the Minister of Education and his colaborers on behalf of the 
State. It is interpreted and adapted in accordance with this 
outline by the county (Regierung) school board, which is prac- 
tically appointed by the central government, and whose terri- 
tory frequently includes nearly a million inhabitants. Neither 
the township (Kreis) nor the local school board has any choice 
in the selection of subjects of instruction or in the selection of 
* "The Making of Citizens," Hughes, p. 67. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 113 

text books for their children.* Approximately the same bu- 
reaucratic system exists in all the German States as in this of 
Prussia. 

Table XLIV. — Showing the Number of Minutes per Week devoted 
to Each Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total 
Time given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools 
(Volksschulen) of Prussia. 



Divisions 
Age of Pupils 



Lower 

6-8 



Middle 
8-11 



Higher 
11-14 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet 


1 Religion 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240|14.5 


6 Language 1 


660 


660 


480 


480 


480 


480 


480 


480 | 32 


8 Arithmetic 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240|14.5 


9 Geography 
10 History & 
12 Object Lessons 




360 


360 


360 


360 


360 


360 16.4 


16 Gymnastics 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120| 7.3 


17 Drawing 






12.) 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120| 5.9 


18 Singing 


60 


60 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120| 6.4 


20 Handwork for 
Girls 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(7.3) 


Geometry 












120 


120 


120| 5.5 


Total 


1820 


1320 


1680 


1680 


1680 


1800 


1800 


1800| 


Percentage of E 


ecitat 


ion T 
Gr 


ime c 
ade p 


evote 
er We 


d to 
ek. 


Each 


Subje 


ct in Each 


1 Religion 


18 


18 


14.3 


14.3 


14.3 


13.3 


13.3 


13.31 


6 Language 


50 


50 


28.6 


28.6 


28.6 


26.6 


26.6 


26.6| 


8 Aritnmetic 


18 


18 


14.3 


14.3 


14.3 


13.3 


13.3 


13.3 




9 Geography, etc. 






21.5 


21.5 


20.5 


20 . 


20 


20 




16 Gymnastics 


9 


9 


7.2 


7.2 


7.2 


6.7 


6.7 


6.7 




17 Drawing 






7.2 


7.2 


6.7 


H 


6.7 




la Singing 


4.S 


4.5 


J' 2 


7.2 


7.2 


0.7 


6.7 


6.7 




20 Handwork 


(9 ) 


(9 ) 


(7.2) 


(7.2) 


(7.2) 


(6.7) 


(B.7) 


.0.7) 


Geometry 


1 1 






6.7 


6.7 


6.7| 



Includes reading, writing, literature, etc. 



Table XLIV. shows the subjects prescribed by the Minister 
of Education in Prussia for schools with more than one 
teacher. It will be seen that the subjects are arranged in 
three divisions, suitable for children from six to eight years of 
age, from eight to eleven, from eleven to fourteen. The eight 
years of compulsory attendance are thus provided for. This 

* "The German School System," Seeley, p. 63. 



114 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

division of subjects and time allotments must be adhered to re- 
gardless of the number of teachers. 

A course is provided, however, for a one teacher (or class) 
school. It differs from the other one in assigning slightly more 
time to religion, language and arithmetic, and in omitting all 
the other studies, except singing, from the lowest division. 

When a school has four teachers, the law requires that the 
middle division be further divided into two sections and that 
one teacher be given charge of each section, thereby placing 
emphasis upon the importance of the middle division to the 
neglect of the lower and upper. This is contrary to the prac- 
tice in France, where the kindergarten is better known and in 
more demand than in Germany. If a German school has six 
teachers, two are given to each division of the school. 

In Table XLIV. and those that follow, the parenthesis is 
used in two ways: first, to show that the minutes thus in- 
closed are devoted to a recitation for girls, which is held dur- 
ing the same time that some other subject is being recited by 
the boys; second, when a cypher is thus enclosed, to indicate 
that such a subject in that grade is not required of girls. 

2. Length of School Life and the School Knowledge of the 
German Child. 

The element of Time in the German elementary schools is 
regulated by the State with as great care as the selection of 
subjects. In Prussia at least forty-five weeks of school attend- 
ance are required per year. This gives considerably shorter 
vacations than in America. These vacations occur at different 
times — one week at Whitsuntide, three or four weeks at the 
' ' harvest vacation, ' ' occurring some time between August and 
October, and one week at Christmas. Usually the pupils spend 
six hours in school each day in the week except Sunday, 
Wednesday and Saturday. In Prussia the school hours are 
either from eight to twelve and two to four, or from eight to 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 115 

twelve and one to three, or from eight to two. On Wednesdays 
and Saturdays pupils are allowed the afternoons for holidays. 

If we add to these regulations as to time, the compulsory ed- 
ucational requirements, several interesting conclusions should 
be forced upon the American educator. Education is compul- 
sory in every German State.* The period of attendance is 
almost the same in all States. In Prussia it is from the age 
of six to fourteen; in Bavaria, six to thirteen; in Wurtem- 
berg, seven to fourteen ; in Saxony, six to fourteen ; in Baden, 
six to fourteen. 

It may, therefore, be said that German children are required 
by law to be in school more years during their lives, more 
weeks during a year, more days during a week, more hours 
during a week and more hours during a day than American 
children. Table XLIV. shows that this is particularly true of 
Prussia. It appears that Prussia devotes from two to three 
hours more a week to recitation than do the other German 
provinces. Table LV. corroborates this, where the average 
recitation time for the ten cities distributed over the Empire 
is seen to be less than it is for Prussia, as shown in Table 
XLIV. The cities usually, however, increase the time pre- 
scribed by their respective governments. 

Since there are more school children in Prussia than in all 
the rest of the German Empire, if the data were available it 
would be interesting to make a comparison between the aver- 
age weekly recitation time in the ten American cities shown in 
Table XII. and ten Prussian cities of equal size. But in the 
absence of such data, we may, by making due allowance, com- 
pare the Prussian Table XLIV., which shows the minimum 
time allotment for schools of the kingdom, with Table XII., 
which probably shows an average time allotment for American 
schools. It is seen that the Prussian child is in school 1635 
minutes per week on the average, and that the American child 

* "The German School System," Seeley, p. 239. 



116 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

is in school on an average only 1312 minutes per week, a dif- 
ference of five hours and twenty-five minutes. 

Objection is raised to such comparison that four hours of 
the Prussian weekly assignment are given to the teaching of re- 
ligion, which is not included in the American curriculum. This 
objection, of course, is not altogether valid, for the fact still re- 
mains, so far as the Prussian child is concerned, that he is in 
recitation nearly a school day more a week than his American 
cousin, which, if it be questionable from a physiological point 
of view, is quite as detrimental if he is reciting in religion as 
if he were reciting in any other subject. In the second place, 
it is true to some degree at least that this study, as conducted 
by the Germans, diminishes the time necessary for other 
studies, such as reading. But if the four hours per week spent 
in reciting this subject were excluded, the Prussian child 
would still be in school one hour and twenty-three minutes 
per week more than the American. 

By comparison of the average weekly school time in the ten 
German cities with that in the ten American cities (see Tables 
LV. and XII.) the difference in minutes per week by grades is 
found to be as follows : 

Grades I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. 

Minutes .... 84 13 217 205 417 378 483 535 

This shows an increase of the German over the American al- 
lotments except in the first grade. In brief, the average in- 
crease for the ten German cities is four hours and a half a 
week, the equivalent of an American school day, which cor- 
roborates the comparison made above between the curriculum 
prescribed by the central authority in Prussia and that found 
to be the average in the ten American cities. Moreover, if we 
eliminate religion as a topic consuming recitation time in Ger- 
many and likewise the opening exercises in America, the Ger- 
man child still attends school an hour and a half more per 
week. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 117 

The foregoing time requirements and distinctions are abso- 
lutely essential to an adequate comprehension of the course of 
study in the elementary schools of Germany. 

Furthermore, the hours per week spent in recitation by the 
German child are so interesting in their implications that they 
should be brought to the attention of the American educator. 
Is it unhygienic conditions, or very long lessons, or the strain 
of lengthy recitation periods, or physical fatigue resulting 
from the excessive length of the daily school period, which are 
responsible for the complaint of the American parents that 
their children are being overworked in school ? Or can it be 
that the superfluous number of subjects and of topics, or ennui 
resulting from the uninteresting methods of the teacher, are 
accountable for the complaints ? This study does not pretend 
to answer all these questions. If the physical exhaustion of 
the American child is due to the length of the recitation period 
(in Germany the recitation period is from forty to sixty min- 
utes), or to the length of the daily, weekly or annual school 
sessions, then one of two things is certain, — either the Ger- 
mans are slowly murdering their children in the schools, or the 
German child is much stronger physically than the American 
child. 

It is asserted by men who have been educated in the German 
schools that they are not physically wrecked by the process.* 

In fact, there has been no sign in recent years pointing to 
the decay of the vitality of the German race. On the other 
hand, no one would readily assent to the proposition that the 
German child is naturally stronger than the American child ; 
and we will abandon as ludicrous the contention that the pupil 
to answer all these questions. If the physical exhaustion of 
climatic differences. 

Therefore, although the evidence is not conclusive without 

* "School Reform," by Dr. Hugo Munsterberg, in Atlantic Monthly, May, 
1000. 



118 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

investigating numerous other contingencies, the weekly time 
allotments in the German schools seem to suggest that the 
American child could spend an hour more a day in school if it 
were necessary, without physical detriment. 

3. Overcrowding. 

Overcrowding in the course of study is the problem in 
America for which we are diligently seeking a solution; but 
the overcrowding of the school itself throughout Germany, 
and not of the curriculum, is one of the serious problems 
which has affected the course of study in many ways. It un- 
doubtedly accounts for the restriction of the course of 
study to a few subjects in order to save time. It has its ef- 
fect also in ironclad regulation by the central authority of the 
time devoted to the respective subjects. In a state in which 
many of the teachers have twice as many pupils as they are 
able to instruct, no risks can be taken in allowing the teachers 
to choose what subjects shall receive special emphasis. All 
sorts of devices have been resorted to in order to overcome the 
evil of overcrowded classes. The popular " Simple " school 
is an attempt to decrease the size of the classes by allowing 
half the children to attend in the forenoon and half in the af- 
ternoon. But while it serves to decrease the size of the classes, 
it is questionable if the loss of the time spent in school does 
not offset this gain. 

In Prussia the maximum number of pupils allotted one 
teacher by law is eighty for a one class (one teacher) school, 
and seventy for each teacher in schools where there are more 
than one teacher.* As a matter of fact, however, the class 
assigned to one teacher is often much larger than this in 
Prussia. "In 1891 it was reported that as many as 1,309,175 
children were taught in classes (grades) numbering between 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Michael E. Sadler, Vol, IX,, p. 



336, 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 119 

eighty-one and one hundred children in the country and sev- 
enty-one to ninety in the town schools." * It is, therefore, not 
to be wondered at that the curriculum is in such a static condi- 
tion and that individual variation is impossible. The excessive 
overcrowding of the schools necessitates uniformity in order to 
secure the least possible loss of time. 

And yet, with all this overcrowding of pupils in schools not 
sufficiently staffed to accommodate them, in schools where a 
teacher is frequently given twice as many pupils as the Ameri- 
can teacher, you hear no complaint from Germany of an over- 
crowded time table. How is this to be explained ? 

In the first place, it is not true, as many suppose, that the 
public elementary school of Germany attempts to teach as 
many subjects as are attempted in the American elementary 
school. Reference to Tables I. and XLIV. will show that there 
are many subjects taught in some schools of America, which 
are not prescribed for any of the schools of Prussia, such as 
manual training, cooking and modern languages. May it not 
be that it is from these few American cities, which have volun- 
tarily overloaded the children of the public schools, that much 
of the complaint comes ? 

In the next place, if any of the ten Germany cities are com- 
pared with any of the American, it will be found that there are 
less time allotments made in the former than in the latter, even 
though nearly all the subjects taught in the one are found in 
the other. If the curriculum of New York City (Table II.) is 
compared with that of Berlin (Table XLV.) it will be seen 
that there are many more allotments to topics on the New York 
table. An examination of the syllabi of the two cities shows a 
remarkable difference in the number of topics in each subject. 
As a consequence, there is less order in the curriculum with us 
and more restless commotion among the teachers and pupils. 
The New York City teacher and pupil are both of them kept 
♦ "Tne Making of Citizens," Hughes, p, 81, 



120 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

nervous by the number of recitations which must be accom- 
plished each week, on account of the presence on the time table 
of such a large number of topics. 

It is the presence of time assignments to so many topics 
which gives both the appearance and the results of an over- 
crowded curriculum. The nervous strain of divided attention 
is probably a factor in the widespread complaint of the over- 
crowding in our elementary curriculum. 

To throw further light upon this matter, a list of topics 
taught in several subjects, as outlined in the syllabus now in 
operation in the Berlin public elementary schools, is here 
given. In Arithmetic the topics in the respective grades 
are as follows : 

Grade I.— Counting, addition, subtraction. 

Grade II. — Counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
division, fractions. 

Grade III. — Continue work of Grade II. 

Grade IV. — Continue work of Grade III. and take factoring. 

Grade V. — The four fundamental operations ; fractions, de- 
nominate numbers, and practical problems. 

Grade VI. — The same as in Grade V., and decimal frac- 
tions. 

Grade VII. — The four fundamental operations ; also propor- 
tion, exchange, discount, business forms and insurance. 

Grade VIII. — The same as in Grade VII., except that prac- 
tical problems and simple algebraic equations are substituted 
for proportion. 

Table XIV. shows that there is no such agreement upon a 
few well ordered topics among American teachers of arith- 
metic. It is furthermore noticeable that the second half of the 
ordinary American arithmetic is largely neglected, and that 
when taken at all it is in the last two grades only. 

In the German schools when a topic in History is chosen 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 121 

it always has bearing upon German history. Thus again a 
great loss of time is avoided. History begins with the follow- 
ing topics: 

Grade IV. — National biography. 

Grade V.— Review biographies; take the Reformation, the 
Thirty Years War, the Crusades, chivalry, growth of towns, 
inventions, discoveries, and the founding of the kingdom of 
Prussia. 

Grade VI. — National biographies, the American revolution, 
the French revolution, the Napoleonic Empire, analysis of the 
Prussian government, and the freedom and union of Italy. 

Grades VII. and VIII. — The history, government and civili- 
zation of Germany and Prussia. 

The brevity of topics, and the predominance of the bio- 
graphical and of national history are the characteristics of 
this five year course in history. When we add to this the fact 
that the outline of geography is governed by the same rule, one 
can begin to perceive why there is no complaint of overcrowd- 
ing among the German teachers. In the syllabus of geography 
for the Berlin schools, there is no mention of the geography of 
America. With but one exception, the geography of Germany 
is the only topic occurring in two grades, for the German 
method is to settle upon that which is at the same time nearest 
and most important to the child and to omit the rest. They 
are willing to do what we are not, viz., omit the unnecessary, 
and to recognize that all knowledge is not co-ordinate and of 
equal value. 

In harmony with this same method of organically relating 
the matter of instruction around a few large and relatively im- 
portant topics, is found the course of instruction in 

Religion for Protestant Schools. 

Grade I. — Nine scenes from the early life of Christ. 



122 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Grade II. — (1) The story of two Old Testament patriarchs 
related to Christ; (2) eight scenes from the later life of 
Christ. 

Grade III.— (1) Moses; (2) David; (3) Peter. 

Grade IV.— (1) The patriarchs; (2) primitive life; (3) 
the wanderings of Israel; (4) the Judges. 

Grade V. — (1) The history of the growth of Israel as 
illustrated by biographies; (2) study and memorizing of 
Psalms; (3) catechism; (4) church history. 

Grade VI. — The same as Grade V., also (1) parables; (2) 
Sermon on the Mount; (3) study of the life of Jesus. 

Grade VII. — The same as in Grade V., also memorizing 
select passages. 

Grade VIII. — The same as in Grade VII. 

Church songs are memorized and learned in all grades. 

Perhaps enough of the analyzed syllabus of the Berlin 
schools has been given to illustrate the methods by which 
relief of overcrowding is accomplished in the German schools, 
through organization of the subject matter by higher authori- 
ties. t We have already shown that the German teacher and 
pupil work longer than we do in America. From the vast 
amount of home work prescribed for the child, in this syllabus, 
one would gather that the pupil also works harder than do 
our pupils. 

The child is saved from overwork by the delay of subjects 
until he is capable of handling them, and by concentrated 
study of one subject. Those definitions and topics regarding 
the solar system, etc., in geography appear much later in 
the Berlin curriculum than in ours. The syllabus orders 
that one primer shall last a grade one year. In America it 
sometimes takes a half a dozen to supply pictures with which 
the teacher " interests' ' the children for that length of time. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 123 

4. Uniformity. 

But perhaps after all the strongest influence against over- 
crowding in Germany is the determination of the German 
educators to organize and systematize the material of instruc- 
tion, so as to avoid waste at every turn. The goal is Germany, 
and the German military citizen. Whether it is good or bad, 
it is nevertheless a definite end of education, and the educator 
has no scruples about omitting that which is irrelevant to his 
purpose. He has an end to attain and a standard of omissions, 
neither of which do we seem to possess in the United States. 

Perhaps no better illustration of the uniformity of the 
German system can be given than will be seen when the 
average percentage of total time devoted to each subject in 
the general laws prescribed by the central government of 
Prussia (see Table XLIV.) is compared with the actual 
practice as shown in the average percentages of total time 
allotted to each subject in ten progressive cities of the different 
states (Table LVL). In Table XLIV. religion occupies 
14.5 per cent of total recitation time, language 32 per cent, 
arithmetic 14.5 per cent. In Table LVI. religion occupies 14 
per cent, language 34.2 per cent, arithmetic 17.2 per cent. 
This uniformity is seen by a more just comparison if the 
percentages of the state assignments are compared individu- 
ally with the specific cities which are situated within that 
state. As an example, religion in the Prussian " regulation ' ' 
(Table XLIV.) receives 14.5 per cent of the total time allot- 
ment ; Table LVI. shows that the percentages for this subject 
for the cities within that kingdom are as follows : Berlin, 13.3 
per cent ; Konigsberg, 14.7 percent ; Gottingen, 13.4 per cent ; 
Wiesbaden, 13.9 per cent. In brief, there is scarcely more 
than a variation of one per cent from the State requirement. 
Calculations as to other subjects may be made from the same 
tables to corroborate this conclusion $s to the uniformity in 
different cities^ 



124 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

It must be remembered, however, that while a city will 
rarely give less weekly recitation time than is prescribed in 
the State law, yet sometimes it will distribute the time some- 
what differently in order to allow a larger portion of time to 
subjects of more importance to the environment of the par- 
ticular city. Munich and Wiirtzberg devote less time to 
language than is prescribed in the law for Bavaria, but these 
two cities devote more time to arithmetic than any other 
cities of the ten. This suggests also that the general laws are 
sometimes more flexible than we are accustomed to think. 
By special act of legislature, Bavaria and some other states 
frequently allow certain provinces to differentiate their cur- 
ricula. 

It is reasonable to suppose that there are advantages in this 
complete uniformity in the courses of study. In America it is 
always easier to get a new subject introduced into the curricu- 
lum than it is to get it out. Perhaps such a system as the 
German, prescribing and controlling its courses of study from 
one central source, might have kept our curriculum free from 
its present inflation had it been in vogue in America some 
years ago. That educators of other countries recognize this 
virtue in the German and French bureaucratic system may 
be seen from the following recent and most concise utterance 
published by the School Management Committee of the School 
Board of London,* which appears to give a fair summary of 
the advantages and disadvantages of such uniformity. In 
speaking of the indifference of the English government to the 
lack of uniformity in the subjects of instruction in the ele- 
mentary schools of London, the Committee remarks : 

"There is no provision for a common standard to be ob- 
tained in the subjects in different schools, and, with very slight 
exception, there is no allotment of the time to be given to the 
various subjects of instruction. Nothing surprises a German 

♦Page 17 of the Report for 1902. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 125 

or a Frenchman more than to learn that in our elementary 
schools the relative time and attention to be given the various 
subjects of instruction is practically within the power of the 
Head Teacher ; and there is but little doubt that many educa- 
tional experts in both France and Germany today are desirous 
of relaxing the rigidity of their systems. But, if iron-bound 
time-table regulations issued by central authority have disad- 
vantages, there is one marked advantage which such a method 
possesses. If official allotment of time prevails, it is not possi- 
ble, without due consideration, to introduce new subjects and 
trust to the manipulative dexterity of the teacher to some- 
how get them included in an already well-filled time-table." 

This does, however, omit one or two suggestions which might 
be of interest to the American educator. It would seem to 
be true that education in Germany is more of a national con- 
sideration than with us. All the pedagogical expressions 
which reach us indicate a more deep-felt interest and a more 
thorough knowledge of actual educational policy and practice 
among the leaders, the statesmen and the educators among the 
Germans, than is found among the English or the Americans. 
As a system for the training of a large group of national 
educational experts, this German uniform system has no 
equal among the civilized people of the world, unless it be in 
France. From the first day the child enters the Volksschule, 
both by the arrangement of subject matter in the curriculum 
and by the arrangement of the topics within each subject, his 
attention is directed towards the central authority and the 
national welfare. In consequence, he grows up to respect 
the national government. When he reaches manhood, he is 
quite willing as a citizen to contribute to the perfection of the 
organization established by the State which to his mind has 
proven its efficiency in the intellectual and moral training of 
the children of the Empire. 

Another advantage of the uniform system is brought up 



126 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table XLV. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted 
to Each Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total 
Time given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools 
of Berlin, Prussia. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Religion 


180 


180 


180 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


13.3 


3 Writing 




120 


120 


120 


120 


60 


60 


60 


5 


6 Language 


480 


420 


420 


360 


360 


360 


360 


360 


23.8 


8 Arithmetic 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


240 


(120) 
240 


(120) 
240 


14.6 


Geometry 












(0) 

180 


(120) 
180 


(120) 
180 


4 


9 Geography 








120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


4.5 


10 History 








120 


120 


120 


120 


120| 4.5 


12 Object Lessons 


120 


120 


120 












1 


14 Nature Study 








120 


120 


240 


(180) 
240 


180 


[•9.6 


lti Physical 

Training 


120 


120 


t60) 
120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


7.3 


17 Drawing 




60 


(60) 
120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


6 


18 Singing 


60 


60 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


6.4 


20 Needle-work 






(120) 


(120) 


(120) 


(180) 


(240)|(240) 


(8 ) 


Total 


1200 


1320 


1440 


1680 


1680 


1920| 1920 


1920| 



language includes composition, grammar, literature, dictation, reading 
and recitation of poetry in all tables of German schools, except when other- 
wise noted. 

Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Religion 


15 


13.5 


12.5 


14.3 


14.3 


12.5 


12.5 


12.5 | 


3 Writing 


1 9 


8.3 


7.1 


7.1 


3.1 


3.1 


3.1 | 


6 Language 


40 


33 


30 


21.5 


21.5 


18.3 


18.3 


18.3 | 


8 Arithmetic 


20 


18 


16.6 


14.3 


14.3 


12.5 


12.5 


12.5 | 


Geometry 


1 






9.3 


9.3 


9.3 | 


9 Geography 




7.1 


7.1 


6.25 


6.25 


6.25| 


10 History 




7.1 


7.1 


6.25 


6.25 


6.25| 


12 Object 

Lessons, etc. 


10 


9 


8.3 


7.1 


7.1 


12.5 


12.5 


9.3 




16 Physical 
Training 


10 


9 


8.3 


7.1 


7.1 


6.25 


6.25 


6.25 




17 Drawing 


4.5 


8.3 


7.1 


7.1 


6.25 


6.25 


6.25| 


IS Singing 


5 


4.5 


8.3 


7.1 


7.1 


6.25 


6.25 


6.25| 


20 Needle-work | 


(8.3) 


(7.1) 


(7.1) 


(9.3) 


(12.5) 


(12.5)| 



language includes composition, grammar, literature, dictation, reading 
and recitation of poetry in all tables of German schools, except when other- 
wise noted. 

for our consideration when we remember that in America, if 
a pupil is so unfortunate as to move from one State to another, 
or even from one city to another in the same State, it generally 
means an immense loss of time and frequently discontinuance 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 127 

Table XLVI. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted 
to Each Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total 
Time given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools 
of Konigsburg, Prussia. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


Pet. 
14.7 


1 Religion 


240 


240 


240 | 


240 


240 | 


240 


6 Language 


660 


660 


480 | 


480 


480 


480 |32.1 


8 Arithmetic 


240 


240 


240 | 


240 


240 


240 (14.7 


Geometry 






1 




120(0)| 


120(0)|(3.67) 


9 Geograpny 






120 | 


120 


120 


120 J 5.5 


10 History 






120 


120 


120 


120 | 5.5 


14 Nature Study 






120 | 


120 


120 | 


120 | 5.5 


16 Gymnastics 






120(0)| 


120(0) 


120(0)| 


120(0) | 5.5 


17 Drawing 




60 


120 


120 


120 


120 I 6 


18 Singing 


60 


60 


120 | 


120 


120 


120 | 6.88 


20 Needle-work 






(240) | 


(240) 


(240) | (240) 


Total 


1200 


1260 


1680 | 
(1800) | 


1680 
(1800) 


1800 1 


1800 





Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 



1 Religion | 20.1 | 19.1 | 14.3 | 14.3 | 13.4 | 13.4 




6 Language | 55.1 | 52.4 | 28.6 | 28.6 | 26.7 | 26.7 




8 Arithmetic | 20.1 | 19.1 | 14.3 | 14.3 | 13.4 | 13.4 




Geometry 


6.7 6.7 




9 Geography | 7.2 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




10 History I | 7.2 | 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




14 Nature Study I | 7.2 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




16 Gymnastics | j j 7.2 j 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




17 Drawing | 4.8 | 7.2 | 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




18 Singing | 5 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 7.2 


6.67 6.67 




20 Needle-work 1(13.7) |(13.7) |(13.7) |(13.7) 





of his education. The child going from the fifth grade in 
the schools of one town is as likely when he enters the next 
town to be placed in the fourth or sixth grade as in the 
fifth. No such thing is known in Germany. "While each 
German state manages its own affairs and has its own pecul- 
iarities, all agree upon the general educational policy. There- 
fore, work, whether done in the common school, the teachers' 
seminary, the gymnasium or the University of the German 
state, is fully recognized in all the other states throughout 
the Empire, and children or students may change their school 
without loss of time. ' ' * Without a bureaucratic system this 

• "The German School System," Seeley, p. 243. 



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132 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table LI. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted 
to Each Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total 
Time given to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools 
of Munich, Bavaria. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet 


1 Religion | 120 


120 


180 | 180 | 180 | 180 


X120 


9.73 


6 Language 


680 


720 


(600)1 (600)| 
720 1 720 | 480 


480 


480 


38.5 


8 Aritnmetic 


360 


360 


360 | 360 | 360 | 360 


360 


22.8 


9 Geography 








1 (60) 
90 


90 


(180) 
120 


3.8 


10 History 








I (60) 
90 


90 


120 


3.8 


12 Object Les- 
sons 






120 


120 


120 


(180) 
240 


(180) 
240 


5.41 


16 Gymnastics 


120 


120 


120 


120 | 120 


120 


120 


7.57 


17 Drawing 








240 


180 | 180 


5.4 


18 Singing 


60 


60 


60 


60 | 60 


60 | 60 


3.8 


20 Needle-work 


(120) 


(120) 


(180) 


(180)| (240) 


(180)| (240)|(11.1) 


Total 


1260 


1380 


1560 | 1560 | 1740 


1800 | 1800 | 


Total 


(1380)1(1300) 


(1620)|(1620)| 


1 1 


Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject in Each 
Grade per Week. 


1 Religion | 9.6 


8.7 


11.6 


11.6 


10.4 


10 


6.7 




6 Language | 47.6 


52.2 


46.2 


46.2 


27.6 


27.1 


27.1 




8 Arithmeti 


28.6 


26.1 


23.1 


23.1 


20.7 


20 


20 




9 Geography 










5.2 


5 


6.7 




10 History 










5.2 


5 


6.7 




12 Object Les- 
sons 






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7.7 


6.9 


13.4 


13.4 




16 Gymnastics 9.6 


8.7 


7.7 


7.7 


6.9 


6.7 


6.7 




17 Drawing 










13.8 


10 


10 




18 Singing 


4.8 


4 


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3.9 


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3.34 


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(8.7) 


(8) 


(HI) 


(11.1)| (13.8) 


(10) 


(13.4) 





could not happen, for the educational experts of such a coun- 
try, acting as isolated individuals, would never agree upon 
"the general educational policy. ,, 

5. Wealth and Poverty of the German Curriculum. 

The Wealth and the Poverty of the course of study in 
the Elementary schools of Germany may be approximately 
arrived at by a type study of the summaries in Tables XLV.- 
LIV. Before beginning this study, however, a few explana- 
tions are necessary. It will be seen that some of the schools 
have only six grades and others only seven, although eight 



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136 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table LV. — Showing the Average Recitation Time in Minutes per 
Week given to Each Subject in Each Grade in the Ten German 
Cities. 



Grade 


I. 


II. III. IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


1 Religion | 172 | 199 | 207 | 234 | 246 


246 


234 


218 


6 Language 1 


588 | 603 | 600 | 567 


513 


501 


583 


472 


8 Arithmetic 


252 | 282 | 282 | 282 


270 


270 


270 


255 


9 Geography 


58 | 47 | 113 | 115 


111 


111 


134 


147 


10 History 


| 33 ! 60 


103 


103 


110 


120 


14 Nature Study 


80 | 66 


100 


140 


126 


111 


16 Gymnastics 


54 | 36 | 60 | 108 


132 


132 


132 


125 


17 Drawing 


12 | 42 | 54 | 60 


120 


114 


137 


128 


18 Singing 


54 | 54 | 93 | 99 


93 


93 


99 


90 


20 Handwork 


(96)| (132)| (222)| (234) 


(258) 


(246) 


(258) 


(278) 


Geometry 


1 1 1 18 


42 72 


102 


112 


Total 


1190 | 1263 | 1502 | 1609 


1730 | 1782 


1822 


1788 


Showing the Average Percentage of Recitation Time given to Each 
Subject in Each Grade in Ten German Cities. 


1 Religion 


14.5 | 15.8 | 13.8 | 14.6 | 14.2 


13.8 


13 


12.3 


6 Language 


49.4 | 47.8 | 40 | 35.3 | 29.7 


28.2 


26.5 


26.5 


8 Arithmetic 


21.2 | 22.3 | 18.7 | 17.6 | 15.6 


15.2 


15.2 


15.3 


9 Geography 


4.9 


3.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 6.4 


6.3 


7.4 


8.3 


10 History 




2.2 | 3.8 | 6 


5.8 


6 


6.8 


14 Nature Study 




| 5.3 | 4 5.8 


7.9 


7 


6.2 


16 Gymnastics 


4.6 


2.8 | 4 6.7 | 7.6 


7.4 


7.3 


7.6 


17 Drawing 


1 


3.3 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 7 


6.4 


7.3 


7.2 


18 Singing 


4.6 


4.3 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 5.4 


5.2 


5.4 


5 


20 Handwork 


<7.3) 


(9.3)1(13.6)1(13.5)1(14.2) 


(13.4) 


(14) 


(13.5) 


Geometry 


| 1 2.4 


4.1 


5.6 


6.5 



1 Language Includes reading, writing, spelling, literature and composition. 



years of compulsory attendance are required by all the States 
except Bavaria (7) and Wurtemberg (7). Munich and 
Wiirtzburg, then, fulfill the legal requirement by establishing 
only seven grades. But in the Prussian cities, Konigsberg, 
Wiesbaden, and in Hamburg, compulsory attendance for the 
extra year is provided for by adding a year to the fifth and 
sixth grades respectively, if the school is a six grade school, 
and a year extra to the seventh grade if it is a seven grade 
school.* This has been included, in calculating the average 
recitation time and the average percentage of total time, by 
repeating the fifth and sixth grade columns in the six grade 

•Stotzner, p. 16. 



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^5 



138 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

schools and the seventh grade column in the seven grade 
schools. This is what the pupil in their schools actually does. 

There is a rigidity about a course of study which provides 
the same time allotments year after year in the child's school 
life. This is the case with all the German schools, but most 
especially with those which repeat the previous year's allot- 
ments, as in the six and seven grade schools with eight year 
compulsory requirements. This makes one suspect the curric- 
ulum of considerable poverty and mechanical dryness. At 
the very outset one is impressed by the fact that there are 
actually fewer subjects of instruction in the German program 
than are found in those of England, France or America. 
Michael E. Sadler recently called attention to this difference 
development, while in America it is especially in the primary 
education which has shown the least capacity for fruitful 
development, while in America it is especially in the primary 
school that the keenest sensitiveness to suggestion, and the 
greatest progressiveness have been found.* The absence of 
any time assignments to certain staple subjects in the first 
two grades is indicative of a poverty of thought material not 
found in the most representative of the American schools. The 
German tables show little time allotment in the primary grades 
to the emotional and aesthetic aspects of the child's experience. 

One other caution must be kept in mind in studying these 
tables. In Germany relative percentage of time varies in 
regular ratio to actual time because of the uniformity of the 
system. In Tables XLV.-LIV. it is seen Berlin devotes the 
smallest percentage of relative time and the smallest amount 
of actual time in minutes per week to arithmetic. Munich 
devotes the largest percentage of relative time and the largest 
amount of actual time to that subject. But this is not the 
case in the American system. New York devotes the smallest 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Michael E. Sadler, Vol. II., p. 
436. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 139 

relative, but Kansas City gives less actual time. Likewise 
Jersey City gives the largest relative time to the subject of 
arithmetic, while Chicago actually gives more minutes per 
week to that subject. This seems to corroborate the opinion 
which the author* of the " Course of Study for Elementary 
Schools " (p. 24) expressed some years ago, to the effect that 
such differences in America are to be accounted for largely by 
the indifference upon the part of some school officials to the 
highest ends of education and to a proper adjustment of the 
subjects to be taught. 

6. Conservatism and Changes in Forty Years. 

German conservatism and suspicion of the "fads and 
frills ' ' of the course of study are rather characteristic. A 
comparison of the courses of study outlined in these pages 
(see Tables I.-XIII. and XLIV.-LVI.) does not only show 
that there are fewer subjects taught in their elementary 
schools, but that a considerably larger portion of time is al- 
lotted to the "three R's" than elsewhere. Manual training 
for boys is noticeable for its absence from the course of study 
in all of the German states and cities ; domestic science is not 
much more popular. New studies have had a severe struggle 
to gain their part of the recitation time. In fact, the Germans 
are exceptionally slow in making any change at all in the 
curriculum. The United States Commissioner of Education 
(in a letter dated Jan. 7, 1904) is authority for the statement 
that "The courses of study for the schools of German cities 
remain practically as they were in 1894-5.' ' The statement 
is corroborated and this date still further removed in a letter 
received by the writer from the Minister of Education of 
Prussia (under date of Feb. 19, 1904) in which he says the 
courses of study in Prussia today follow the " Regulations ' ' 
(Allgemeine-Bestimmungen) of Minister Falk issued October 

*J. T. Prince, 



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142 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

15, 1872. In order to show this static condition of the German 
curriculum a little more in detail, a type study has been 
made of the public elementary schools of Berlin. (See Table 
LVII.) 

During the forty-one years from 1860 to 1901, only two 
subjects were introduced into the Berlin course of study, viz., 
geography and gymnastics ; and since 1873 there has not been 
a single subject dropped or added. It would be interesting to 
know if as much could be said of any American city during 
the last five years. The only changes in the time allotment of 
the Berlin schools since 1873 are seen in the following sum- 
mary made from Table LVII. 



losses (per week) 

Hour. 

Grade I. — Religion, 1 
Arithmetic, 1 
Singing, 1 
Object Lessons, 2 


GAINS 

Gymnastics, 

Gymnastics, 

Drawing, 

Nature Study, 
Gymnastics, 


(per week) 


Hour. 
5 


Grade II. — Language, 
Singing 
Object Lessons, 


1 

1 
2 


2 
2 


Grade III. — Handwork for girls, 


4 


2 

2 


Grade IV. — Language, 

Handwork for girls, 
Drawing, 


2 
4 
2 


Gymnastics, 

History, 

Geometry, 

Gymnastics for girls, 

Gymnastics for girls, 


2 

2 
2 


Grade V. — Handwork for girls, 


2 


2 


Grade VI. — Handwork for girls, 


2 


2 



The losses by both boys and girls are religion, one hour; 
arithmetic, one hour ; singing, two hours ; object lessons, four 
hours ; language, three hours. The loss by girls alone is hand- 
work, twelve hours, which is replaced by ten hours of gym- 
nastics and two hours of nature study. The gains by both 
boys and girls have been twelve hours of gymnastics and two 
of history, while the boys alone gained two hours of geometry. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 143 

The main tendencies of growth in the Berlin curriculum in 
these thirty years have been in the abandoning of nature study 
in the first two grades, the increase of gymnastics for boys 
and the admission of girls to gymnastics. The decrease of 
handwork for girls is not important, because that subject is 
still left with a normal amount of time. 

7. Physical Education actually Provided for. 

The one interesting feature of this development of the 
Berlin curriculum has been that it shows that for the past 
thirty-one years the city has been attempting to provide 
adequate physical exercise for boys. It is rather remarkable 
that for thirty years this city should have provided more time 
upon its program for caring for the health of its pupils than 
is found in the year 1904 in the courses of study of eight out 
of the ten representative American cities chosen for this study. 
(See Tables II.-XI.) *When we compare the American aver- 
age allotment, Table XIII., and the German, Table LVL, 
seven of the German cities are seen to devote approximately 
6 per cent and the other three approximately 4 per cent of 
their total assigned time to the care of the health of the child 
by means of systematic physical training; whereas, on the 
contrary, of the seven American cities which devote any time 
to the subject at all, only two give as much as 6 per cent of 
the time, the other five approximating 3 per cent, which is 
less than the three lowest German cities. In this comparison 
it must be remembered that the percentage of total time in 
Germany means much more than it does in America, because 
as has already been shown there is more actual time. To make 
this comparison does no injustice to America because of any 
fallacy of accidental selection of either of the two groups of 
cities selected for study. To prove this it is only necessary to 
refer to Table L, made up of fifty American cities, among 
which are certainly nearly all of those approximating in pop- 



144 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

ulation the ten German cities. It may be noticed that not 
more than 4 per cent of these fifty cities make any provision 
at all upon their programs for the physical training of the 
child. How far this percentage is from applying to the school 
children in Germany, a glance at the legal requirements, as 
tabulated in Table XLIV., will readily show. In this table it 
appears that physical culture is offered to more than two- 
thirds of the children of the Empire. It may be that this 
helps to answer the assertion that the German child is able 
to endure a heavier mental tax than the American child. 

One phase of the question of physical culture in the Ger- 
man school is difficult for the American to appreciate. By 
referring to Tables XLV. to LIV. one will find to his surprise 
how many of the courses of study provide physical training 
for boys and not for girls. It is true that the girls have hand- 
work in its stead, but it is hardly conceivable that sewing, or 
even cooking in the one instance given, could be classified 
among those physical activities which contribute to the train- 
ing of the bodily organism. The discrimination against the 
girls is further emphasized by referring to the total recitation 
time in each grade per week. If one can assume that an in- 
crease of recitation time implies an increase of work, then the 
girls are actually required to do more work in school than the 
boys in the thirty-nine out of the forty-five grades in these ten 
cities which require a difference of recitation time for girls 
and boys. 

8. Language. 

The contention is made in connection with this study that in 
the main the relative percentage of the time devoted to a sub- 
ject indicates the relative importance attached to that subject. 
To the counter proposal that such would indicate only the diffi- 
culty of the subject, it is cited that mathematics is undoubt- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 145 

edly more difficult than reading or language, and yet mathe- 
matics invariably receives less recitation time. 

According to this time criterion, language is regarded as the 
most important subject in the German curriculum. Indeed, 
German education is, more than that of any other nation of 
the world, based upon linguistic studies. 

The prominence given in America to manual training and 
those exercises which have to do with humane education pro- 
duces a system which is the antithesis of all that is typically 
German. We look to human life for a determination of our 
standards of worth. The German will perhaps claim to do 
the same thing, but his regard is more for the forms of culture 
derived from the civilization of the past than for those founded 
on the activities of the present. How much he is still 
" haunted by the ghost of 'general culture' " is shown par- 
ticularly in the study of language. Of course this appears 
more conspicuously in the study of the curricula of the sec- 
ondary school than in those of the elementary, but even in 
the latter the excessive time allotment to language is sig- 
nificant. 

In considering the subject of language, we may exclude 
the study of spelling, which is an unnecessary evil in a com- 
posite language like the German (it is practically forbidden 
by law in Germany), and include reading, writing and per- 
haps three-fourths of the time devoted to the study of re- 
ligion, since this latter study practically takes the place of 
much work in language and literature which would otherwise 
be required. Considering it thus, we may safely say that an 
average of 40 per cent of the total assigned recitation time in 
the ten cities, as shown in Table LVL, is given to language 
alone. This statement must be supplemented by the fact that 
teachers are given specific instructions to make every recitation 
one in language. In several of the grades, over thirteen hours 
per week are assigned to language alone. Konigsberg leads in 



146 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

the prominence attached to language in any one grade; 55.1 
per cent of the time in its first grade, and 52.4 per cent in the 
second, are given to this one study. 

The different subjects included under language are read- 
ing, writing, composition, literature and grammar, dictation 
and object lessons (Anschauungunterricht). Object lessons 
are taught and used as subjects of oral composition in the 
earlier grades only. Reading and oral composition are taken 
almost wholly from historical biography or national litera- 
ture. Much time is saved in reading by insisting that the 
reading matter shall have worth in itself and bear upon other 
subjects of instruction. The amount of reading matter cov- 
ered in the average Prussian school is very small and cannot 
be compared with that read in the American. Frequently 
a book of five hundred pages lasts a pupil six years. Cases 
are quoted in which the child reads only sixteen octavo pages 
in the first year, and this, too, in a good school.* The German 
has a strenuous idea of thoroughness which will not admit of 
his covering a vast number of pages in reading lessons, as his 
American neighbor does. The possibility of causing fatigue 
and destroying the interest of his pupil seems not to annoy 
the German pedagogue. 

9. Religion. 

Religion is a subject of which the American educator claims 
to have too little in his elementary schools and the German, on 
the other hand, too much. It has already been shown that this 
subject is largely responsible for the larger weekly recitation 
time found in the German schools. It has been suggested that 
want of time is no excuse for the absence of that subject from 
the American curriculum. Various opinions regarding the 
importance of this subject are shown in the German tables, 
but all agree in allowing it almost as much time as they do 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Sadler, Vol. IX., p. 318. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 147 

arithmetic. Table LVII. shows that since 1840 there has been 
a steady decrease of time for religion in the Berlin schools. 
In Wiirtemberg, where the subject receives by law eight 
hours and forty minutes a week, a fierce fight is raging between 
progressive educators and the clergy, who in all Germany have 
considerable voice in educational affairs. Certain cities, such 
as Stuttgart, seem by some device to have escaped the official 
requirements. But even after the subject receives only its 
normal allotment, there will always remain a large amount of 
time devoted to it, for the Germans are essentially a religious 
people. 

Practically all the elementary schools of Germany are re- 
ligious schools, though not under the control of the church. 1 
In the truest sense of the word, this is the case in Prussia, in 
which State every elementary school, with a few exceptions, is 
either Protestant, Catholic or Jewish. The teaching is non- 
sectarian, but the teachers are required to teach Biblical his- 
tory, the catechism, hymns, the creed and points of religious 
ethics. 2 Section 18 of the " Regulations ' ' of 1872 requires 
that the Gospel or Epistle for the following Sunday shall be 
taught by the teacher on the previous Saturday. When the 
school releases the child, the church takes charge of him, for 
on the day of his release from school, the child either is ' ' con- 
firmed" in the Protestant church or goes to the " first com- 
munion" in the Catholic church. 3 The time allotment in the 
above tables does not over-estimate the importance of this 
subject in the mind of the German educator. 

When a nation of educators have thought over, philoso- 
phised about, and actually for so many decades have taught 
in their schools a subject like this, and give it today from 

Reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, 1889- 

^Reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, 1889- 

' ^Reports of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, 1888- 
89, p. 51. 



148 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

13.8 per cent to 18.8 per cent of the entire recita- 
tion time, their practice ought to have some weight with the 
American people who are seeking to find the legitimate place 
of the subject in the school curriculum. There may be differ- 
ences of educational aims between the two systems, but there 
should be no disagreement as to the importance of any avail- 
able agency for the furtherance of public morals and public 
virtue. Whether or not the Germans are more religious or 
more virtuous than we, does not affect the question ; for it can 
hardly be granted that the German boy knows any less of the 
Bible than the American boy, or that he is any less upright for 
what he does know. There have been practically no facts cor- 
related on the subject of the relative Biblical knowledge and 
religious and moral character of the two peoples, such as would 
warrant one in drawing comparisons. But what few measure- 
ments have been made as to the Biblical knowledge of the 
American school boy indicate that scarcely any way could be 
discovered for him to know less of that subject. If the Ger- 
man school boy has learned anything of Biblical truth from 
his instructor, the advantage is in his favor. 

10. Arithmetic. 

The German child is said to be much superior to other chil- 
dren in the oral exposition of arithmetic. The Prussian 
"Regulations" (Sec. 28) are quite clear as to the emphasis to 
be placed upon mental arithmetic. "In the lower divisions, 
in schools with one or two teachers, so far as possible, and in 
the other schools regularly, all calculations are to be done in 
the head. At the beginning of the new rule, in all divisions, 
calculations in the head are to precede those done on the 
board.' ' Another specification is that "the relation to every 
day life is always to be kept in view." For these reasons the 
mere number of pages in arithmetic which they do is consid- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 149 

erably less than with us. The highest grades of the elementary- 
school are not required to go farther than common and deci- 
mal fractions. 

As in America, the relative time assigned makes arithmetic 
second in importance to language. The variation between the 
ten German cities is about the same as the variation between 
the ten American cities. The relative time is from 14 per 
cent to 22.8 per cent in the German tables, between 12 per 
cent and 19.5 per cent in the American. The average relative 
time for the ten cities of each country is exactly the same, 17.3 
per cent. But in each case there is perhaps an allowance to be 
made for selection. Munich's 22.8 per cent is as exceptionally 
high as New York's 12 per cent is exceptionally low. None 
of the German or American cities devote as much time as 
Munich to arithmetic. 

11. Eealien. 

Realien is the title which the Germans apply to geography, 
history, elementary science and nature study. These four 
subjects are not supposed to be separated either in subject 
matter and method, or in the mind of the child. Object les- 
sons, as taught in connection with language in the lower 
grades, furnish the preparation for these subjects. There is 
a very easy and logical transition from object lessons, includ- 
ing the study of objects around the child, to home geography, 
local traditions in history and elementary nature study. 
Quite as easy is the next step, leading from the geography of 
the district to that of the province and Empire; from local 
history to the biography of great men of the district, province 
and Empire, and from nature study to physiology and elemen- 
tary physics. There is in the elementary schools practically 
no history referring to the great economic and social move- 
ments of civilization, — the work is confined mainly to biog- 
raphy. 



150 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Further comparison of Tables LIV.-LVI. with Tables XII.- 
XIII. reveals the fact that the Germans devote practically the 
same time relatively and actually to history that we do, but 
they devote to geography more actual time than we, and it is 
much better distributed throughout the grades. This is due 
partly to the fact that home geography has gained a stronger 
foothold than with us. 

12. Correlation. 

Correlation, in the sense of the interrelation of the topics 
from different subjects of instruction, is much more possible 
between history and geography after the third grade in Ger- 
many than in America, because of an equalization of the per- 
centages of recitation time devoted to these two subjects from 
the third grade on. This equalization is not found in any of 
the American grades, except the seventh and eighth, whereas 
it is found in five out of eight grades in Germany. 

The correlation cited between history, geography, nature 
study, elementary science and object lessons is but a type of 
the evidence appearing in the German curriculum which leads 
one to believe that correlation is a reality there. Of course, 
it may be practiced without appearing upon the program, 
but there is the rarest probability of such being the case in 
America, where the overworked teacher with a crowded curric- 
ulum is only too thankful to finish what is actually and in so 
many words assigned. Certainly no convincing evidence has 
been found regarding correlation in our study of the Ameri- 
can school. Has it not often been the case that our superin- 
tendents and principals have so hastily and thoughtlessly in- 
troduced new subjects that they have failed to distribute these 
subjects and the time allotted to them with that due propor- 
tion which makes real correlation possible? 

13. Formal vs. Content Studies. 

The content studies are more generally taught in the lower 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 151 

grades and receive more time in America than in Germany. 
This is largely due to the difference of method. The German 
philosophy stands for thorough and complete teaching of a 
subject at one time. The American adheres to the concentric 
circle system, by which a subject is taught only in part at one 
time and repeated in the several grades from different points 
of view. Except for geography, the Germans, unlike the 
Americans, do not see much reason for introducing content 
studies in the lower grades; history, nature study, drawing 
and handwork for girls are scarcely provided for in the first 
three years of school life. 

There is a tendency shown in all these German tables to 
teach the formal studies in the early grades ; the time devoted 
to them is gradually diminished as the upper grades are ap- 
proached, and its place is filled by a corresponding increase 
of the assignment to content studies. The summary in Table 
LVI. shows that religion, language and arithmetic receive 
less time in the seventh and eighth grades than elsewhere. On 
the contrary all other subjects receive more time in the upper 
grammar grades than elsewhere, and this gradual increase is 
steady as these upper grades are approached. This is an im- 
portant distinction between the German uniform curriculum 
and the variable one of America. In America, arithmetic 
really receives about as much time in one grade as in another ; 
geography, contrary to the German plan, receives more time 
in the fourth grade than in the sixth, seventh or eighth; 
nature study more in the fifth than in the eighth, while draw- 
ing, music and physical training receive more time in the first 
two than in the last two grades. 

This distinction raises the problem whether it is better to 
follow the German plan of teaching the formal in the earlier 
school life of the child and the more concrete in the later life, 
or to follow the American plan which seems to be just the re- 



152 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

verse. Or, might it not be better, departing from both plans, 
to teach the more abstract formal studies through the more 
concrete content studies, in all grades, until a satisfactory 
knowledge of the subject is acquired? 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CURRICULUM OF PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
IN FRANCE. 

1. 'Administration of the Elementary Schools. 

All the schools of France, both public and private, are 
under the direct control of the State. No money is expended, 
no book adopted, no study introduced into the program with- 
out the consent of the central authority. This authority is 
vested in the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts 
(Ministre de l'lnstruction publique et des Beaux-Arts), who 
is a Cabinet officer and possesses extensive administrative 
power. He is assisted by the Superior Council of Public In- 
struction, composed of sixty members, fifteen of whom are 
chosen by the President of the Republic, the remainder being 
elected by their colleagues, the professors and teachers. This 
Council meets twice a year. An executive Committee of fifteen, 
chosen from the sixty, meets weekly with the Minister and 
transacts the bulk of business. The course of study for each 
and every public elementary school is prescribed by the Min- 
ister and the Council. They choose books, create and suppress 
schools, and advise about all matters of instruction and admin- 
istration. 

For the supervision of the system and the execution of the 
laws and decrees of the Minister, the country is divided be- 
tween seven General Inspectors. Under these are ninety 
Academy Inspectors, one for each Department, France being 
divided for educational purposes into ninety Departments or 

153 



154 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

large counties. Below the Academy Inspectors are about four 
hundred and forty Primary Inspectors, one for about every 
one hundred and fifty schools. The Primary Inspectors come 
in more direct contact than the other officials with the teachers 
and the pupils. It is their business to see that the curriculum 
prescribed by the central authority is properly carried out. 

France, including Algiers, is divided into seventeen 
Academies or administrative divisions. These seventeen Acad- 
emies are further divided into ninety Departments, the civil 
heads of which, known as the Prefects of the Departments, 
are appointed by the President. The Department is the local 
unit for primary school administration ; for instance, if addi- 
tional studies were to be added in any school, over and above 
those prescribed by the Minister and his Council, the selections 
would be made by the Department, through the Prefect and 
Departmental Council, subject to the approval of the higher 
authorities. Each Department is divided into Arrondisse- 
ments, each Arrondissement into Cantons, and each Canton 
into Communes, which are the smallest unit within the com- 
plex French educational machine. 

The only important work done by any local authority is the 
supervision of the compulsory attendance laws by the com- 
munal school committee (Commission Scolaires). The State 
through its various inspectors manages nearly all the system 
from Paris. It secures this right by paying the larger part of 
total running expenses of. the schools. It pays the salaries of 
all elementary teachers. The local community only builds the 
school house. 

The course of study presented in France is created and con- 
trolled by the most highly developed bureaucratic system of 
education in the world today. Down to the smallest details, 
each item is passed upon by the central officers at Paris, either 
directly or by proxy. The departmental Council, it is true, 
adds studies and, within numerous required limits, may pre- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA, 155 

scribe the time per week to be devoted to a study. But the 
Prefect of the Department and the Academy Inspectors are 
officers appointed by the President of the Republic. 

2. General Laws Relating to the Elementary Schools. 

By the law of October 30, 1886, which is still operative, 
primary schools comprise: (1) Infant Schools and Classes; 
(2) Lower Primary Schools; (3) Higher Primary Schools 
(or higher grades attached to Lower Primary Schools and 
called Cours Complementaires) ; (4) Technical or Professional 
Schools. 

Primary education is free in all these grades and compul- 
sory for all children from six to thirteen, unless they have 
obtained the "Certificate of Primary Studies," for which 
they are eligible at eleven years of age. As a matter of fact, 
the vast majority of children, especially in the rural districts, 
manage somehow to obtain this certificate and leave when 
they are eleven years old. 

We shall interest ourselves only with the course of study 
presented in the first two divisions of the French school 
system, and with the first only incidentally, as it is related to 
the Lower Primary School. These Lower Primary Schools 
are chosen for study because only a small percentage of the 
pupils in the public elementary schools attend any other than 
the Lower Primary School. Both the certificate of exemption 
from compulsory attendance, obtainable at eleven years, and 
the limit of the compulsory attendance law at thirteen years of 
age, in effect make the Lower Primary the school attended by 
the masses. 

The Lower Primary Schools (E coles Primaires Elemen- 
taires) of Prance receive children between the ages of six 
and thirteen. That is, they provide for their tuition during 
seven years of compulsory attendance. The course of instruc- 
tion is divided into three divisions: (1) the elementary, for 



156 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

children from seven to nine; (2) the middle course, for chil- 
dren from nine to eleven ; ( 3 ) the higher course, for children 
from eleven to thirteen. Each course is to employ the child 
for two years. These divisions are compulsory for all ele- 
mentary schools, except those with one teacher only, where the 
two upper courses may be given without division. Children 
below the age of seven are provided for by an infant section. 

In schools with two teachers, one has charge of the infant 
section and the elementary course, the other of the two upper 
courses. In schools with three teachers each course forms a 
distinct grade. In schools with four teachers, the elementary 
course is divided into two grades with a teacher to each grade, 
and the other two teachers take the middle and higher courses 
as a grade each. In schools with five teachers, the two lower 
courses are each divided into two grades with a teacher to 
each grade, and the higher course is taught by the fifth 
teacher. In schools of six teachers, each course is divided into 
two grades, and each grade is given to a teacher. If a school 
has more than six teachers no new grades are formed, but 
crowded grades are divided into sections. In case there were 
two years devoted to the infant section, there might be eight 
grades in each school, beginning with children five years of age 
and ending with those thirteen years of age. In case of one 
year devoted to the infant section, there might be seven grades. 
But very often the infant class is in a separate building or in 
the Maternal School. Six grades, beginning with our second 
grade, or with children seven years old, are the rule for cities. 

In all cases in which the same course comprises two grades, 
one grade represents the first year and the other the second 
year of the course. The two grades follow the same course of 
study, but the lessons and exercises are so graduated that in 
the second year pupils review and complete the studies of the 
first. This method of proceeding by concentric circles rather 
than by progress and development of new matter is opposed 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 157 

wherever the German method is popular. The French plan 
lays stress upon one very important consideration, almost un- 
known in American syllabi or curricula. The law insists that 
the second year work of a division shall " review, deepen and 
complete" the first year's work. There is no specification as to 
review in the American curriculum. "Something new" is 
supposed to be necessary and review is left to the whim of the 
individual teacher. 

3. The Curriculum and Organization of the Sub-Primary 
Schools and Classes. 

Before entering upon the discussion of the elementary school 
curriculum proper, it will be necessary to explain the mechan- 
ism and the work of the two kinds of kindergarten schools to 
which is entrusted the education of the French child before 
he enters the first course of the elementary school. 

These two schools are known as Mother Schools (Ecoles 
Maternelles) and Infant Classes (Classes Infantines) or, 
when they are attached to elementary schools, Infant Sections. 
It was estimated that there were 1,348,443 children under six 
years old in the schools of France in 1897 in these two kinds 
of schools. This does not include the number in Infant Sec- 
tions attached to elementary schools. 

The Maternal Schools, not being obligatory for communes 
with a population under two thousand, are confined to the 
larger cities. They receive children from two to six years 
of age, except in Paris where pupils may attend until they are 
seven years old. The schools are kept open for forty-eight 
weeks during the year, six days in the week, and are open from 
7 A. M. until 7 P. M. in summer and from 8 A. M. until 6 
P. M. in winter. About four hours of this time are taken up 
with class room work. There are two divisions, one for small 
children from two to five years old, and one for children from 
five to six. 



158 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

The decrees of the Minister and Superior Council of Edu- 
cation, dated January 18, 1887, and August 8, 1890, prescribe 
a lengthy syllabus of instruction for Maternal Schools, includ- 
ing rules for governing them. The subjects of instruction are 
the same for the two sections, except that recitation and 
national history are taught only in the upper section. The 
subjects are: 

1. The first principles of moral education. 

2. Some knowledge of common things. 

3. The elements of drawing. 

4. The elements of writing. 

5. The elements of reading. 

6. Lessons in language. 

7. Some idea of natural history and geography. 

8. Recitation. 

9. Manual Training. 

10. Number. 

11. Singing. 

12. Gymnastics. 

There is no allotment of time made for this program. The 
official time allotment of the Paris Maternal Schools which is 
presented below, will give an approximate idea of the dispo- 
sition of subjects and the relative time spent upon each. A 
few facts must be kept in mind in interpreting this table. 
First, these schools cover one year more in Paris than else- 
where in France. They open for school work at 6 A. M. and 
close at 4 P. M. Of these seven hours, recess periods take up 
fifteen minutes in the forenoon, thirty minutes in the middle 
of the afternoon, one hour and thirty minutes for lunch and 
noon recitation, and thirty minutes before both morning and 
afternoon sessions for inspection of cleanliness, which leaves 
but three hours and forty-five minutes recitation time. 

Exception has been made for Paris as to time of sessions. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 159 

Table LVIII. — Showing the Minutes per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in the Maternal Schools of Paris.* 



Subject. 


Minutes. 


1 Moral Instruction 


60 


6 Language including Reading and Writing 


450 


S Number Work 


135 


9 Geography 


10 History and Stories 


180 


12 Common Things 


45 


16 Recreation in class 


300 


17 Drawing 


90 


18 Singing 


90 


Total 


1350 



(Taken from "Reglement ficoles Maternelles Publiques," adopted by the 
Departmental Council of the Seine, March 16, 1893.) 

In the Maternal Schools, Thursday is not a regular school day 
so far as all the subjects upon the time table are concerned. 
The school meets under the regular teacher or her assistant, 
one of whom is given a holiday each Thursday. The school 
is not in session so long as on other days and is more nearly 
given up to motor-active subjects. There are ninety minutes 
of class work in the forenoon and a hundred and five minutes 
in the afternoon, in which time manual exercises, gymnastics, 
singing, conversation and recitation constitute the subjects of 
instruction. 

The law of 1893 changed the curriculum of the Paris Ma- 
ternal School, and as the change illustrates a tendency more 
or less apparent throughout the entire French system, it is 
worthy of notice. Natural history was dropped except as 
taught in connection with common things; the time devoted 
to moral instruction was decreased thirty minutes per week; 
language lessons lost ninety minutes per week ; common things 
lost ninety minutes; recreation was increased thirty minutes. 
The only intentional changes seem to be in the case of morals 
and those subjects relating to elementary science, the other 
changes being occasioned doubtless by the lightening of the 
work on Thursdays. The whole tendency is toward ameliora- 
tion of the strenuous intellectual requirements, and the course 



160 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

accordingly makes a stronger appeal to one's judgment than 
the severe requirement in the Infant Schools of England. 

The subjects taught in the Infant Classes are the same as 
those given in the Maternal Schools. Wherever, as in the 
larger cities, there exists both a Maternal School and an Infant 
Class, the latter is regarded as a connecting link between the 
former and the Elementary School. Only in larger cities do 
the two types exist ; poorer municipalities have only the Infant 
Classes. In Paris, the Infant Class keeps the child until his 
eighth birthday. Throughout the whole French system the 
Infant Class simply prepares him for the Elementary School. 
In smaller communities the Infant Section is merely a one 
or two year course, according as the child enters at five or six 
years of age. It is attached to the Elementary Course of the 
Lower Primary School, and is frequently, in poorly staffed 
schools, taught by the teacher of the Elementary Course. The 
subject matter and time allotment in such schools are the same 
as in the first grade of the Elementary School proper. In 
fact the Elementary School in France, just as in England, 
begins with the second grade year. 

The program of the Maternal School (see pp. 158 and 159) 
appears rather difficult for small children, but the method of 
using the program relieves it of its apparent fright fulness. 
No lesson is more than twenty minutes long, and stringent 
care is required to avoid mental fatigue. The school for chil- 
dren under five years old is regarded merely as a place where 
working mothers can leave their children and have them 
cared for during their busy hours. Even during the lesson 
time, "a lesson which employs the hand always follows one 
which employs the mind." Reading and writing are not be- 
gun until the children are five, and sewing is forbidden by law 
because of the possible detriment to the eyes at an early age. 

What is the object of these two classes of Kindergarten 
Schools, the one required by law to take children who may 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 161 

come from the homes at two years of age and keep them until 
the age of compulsory attendance, and the other to take them 
a year before compulsory attendance and keep them a year 
after it begins? What purpose do they serve, what ideas 
embody, that they have an attendance of nearly one and a 
half million children? The law itself states the purpose of 
the Maternal School: "The Ecole Maternelle is not a school 
in the ordinary sense of the word ; it is the transition from the 
family to the school ; it retains the indulgent and affectionate 
gentleness of the home, while initiating the child into the work 
and regularity of the school. The success of the headmis- 
tress of the Ecole Maternelle must not, therefore, be judged 
wholly or principally by the number of things taught to the 
children, or by the high level of the teaching and the number 
and length of the lessons ; but rather by the sum of good influ- 
ences which are brought to bear on the child by the pleasure 
which he is made to take in school, by the habits of order, 
cleanliness, politeness, attention, obedience, and intellectual 
activity which he acquires, so to speak, in playing." The 
purpose of the Infant Classes and Sections is largely the same 
as that of the Maternal Schools, with perhaps more emphasis 
upon the school than upon the home point of view. 

The ideal and its execution in the French system of Kinder- 
garten instruction are a justification for presenting the cur- 
riculum of these schools in connection with the study of the 
public elementary school. One serious and unsettled problem 
in American education is how to bridge the chasm from the 
home to the school. A correlative task is how to adjust the 
subject matter and methods of the kindergarten to those of 
the primary grades. The kindergarten in America seems un- 
able to offer a solution, for the very practical reason that it 
exists so rarely as not to be considered a serious item in the 
elementary educational situation. Few, even of the larger 
cities, offer kindergarten privileges to all their children under 



162 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

six years of age. To the practical mind of the educational 
financier in America, it is too expensive to justify its methods 
of learning by play and self activity. 

Even if the American educator could become convinced 
of a theoretical value in the kindergarten as a connecting link 
between the home and the elementary school, the present abso- 
lute difference of subject matter and methods in the two 
schools would bar the adoption of the kindergarten as a means 
to such a desired end. That fundamental differences exist 
is an accepted fact, observable by any visitor to the two 
schools. 

The French offer suggestions of relief to us in two particu- 
lars. First, the elementary curriculum is modified to suit the 
needs of human life in its present condition rather than in 
some past or future form. This modification has made it 
possible to start with the life of the home as the child brings 
it to the Infant School and continue it without a break into 
and throughout the elementary school. With us, the change 
must be made in the subject matter of the elementary school 
rather than in the kindergarten, for our kindergarten begins 
with the life of the home; but when the kindergarten has 
brought the child, with his needs and the training of two 
years based upon these needs, to the primary school, he is 
met with a rebuff. The formal studies, which in a large meas- 
ure respond to no immediate need, experience or demand of 
the child or of his home life, are forced upon him and the 
continuity of training is immediately broken. 

The experts in the employ of the educational bureau of 
France insist with weighty reason upon the continuity of the 
curriculum begun in the kindergarten. 

It is true that the central organization assists in bringing 
about this connection between home and school. But it is not 
believed that such desiderata are impossible even under our 
system. If, however, some form of centralized control is 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 163 

essential, then let it come. The absence of it is but a mark 
of inefficiency, if that uniformity and unbroken continuity, 
which are essential to any effectual educational system and 
the prerequisites of a good course of study, cannot be attained 
without bureaucratic control. 

If the study of the French sub-primary schools can assist 
us in connecting the home with the school, and the kinder- 
garten with the primary school, and in discovering some way 
to construct a continuous course of study organically related 
in its parts, it will have rendered us an important service. 

In the study of the elementary curriculum in France, which 
is now taken up, only two tables are offered. The first shows 
the subject matter, its distribution by grades, the time allotted 
to it in each grade, and the relative percentage of total time 
spent upon each subject in each grade, for all the public ele- 
mentary schools of France. This table is prescribed by the 
Minister of Education and his Council. The second table 
shows the same items for Paris. It is unnecessary to make an 
extended study of the curricula of various schools of France, 
as has been done for the schools of the other countries, as the 
perfection and the absolute precision of the laws made by the 
central authority fix the smallest detail for each city. A 
type study of the Paris schools is sufficient. 

The first table was correlated from the following sources: 
the law of March 28th, 1882, sketching the curriculum for all 
grades of Primary Schools ; the decree of January 18th, 1887, 
fixing the details of the program for Elementary Schools ; the 
decrees of August 8th, 1890, January 4th, 1894, March 9th, 
1897, and September 17th and 20th, 1898, completing the 
curriculum of 1887. In these laws certain rules regarding the 
time table are prescribed: (1) At the beginning of each year 
a time table of subjects taught each day and hour, approved 
by the Primary Inspector, shall be posted by the principal in 
each class room; (2) The more difficult subjects shall be re- 



164 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table LIX. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total Time given 
Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of France. 



Course. 



Elementary. 



Middle. 



Higher. 



Grade. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


Pet. 


1 Moral Instruction 


Five Recitations per 


week. 




3 Writing 


300 


300 


Gradually decreasing. 




6 Language 1 


600 


600 


600 


600 


600 


600 


33.3 


8 Arithmetic 


225 


225 


300 


300 


300 


300 


15.3 


9 Geography 

10 History 

11 Civics 


300 


300 


300 


300 


300 


300 


16.5 


12 Common Things 

13 Elementary Science 


75 


75 


150 


150 


150 


150 


6.3 


16 Physical Training 


150 


150 


150 


150 


225 | 225 


9.6 


17 Drawing 


Two or three Recitations 


per Week. 


18 Singing 


60 | 60 


60 


60 


60 | 60 


3.8 


19 Manual Training 


150 | 150 


150 


150 | 180 


180 


8.2 


20 Sewing 


(150)| (150) 


(150)| (150) 


(180) 


(180) 


(8.2) 


Total 


1800 | 1800 


1800 


1800 


1800 | 1800 | 


Percentage of Recitation 


Time devo 
Grade. 


ted to 


Each Subject in 


Each 


3 Writing 


16.6 


16.6 


1 


1 


6 Language 


33.3 


33.3 


33.3 


33.3 


33.3 | 33.3 




8 Arithmetic 


12.5 


12.5 


16.6 


16.6 


16.6 | 16.6 




9 Geography 

10 History 

11 Civics 


16.6 


16.6 


16.6 


16.6 


16.6 | 16.6 




12 Common Things 

13 Elementary Science 


4 


4 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 




16 Physical Training 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


12.5 


12.5 




18 Singing 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 




19 Manual Training 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


10 10 




20 Sewing 


(8.3) 


(8.3) 


(8.3) 


(8.3) 


(10) |(10) 





1 Language includes reading, spelling, dictation, grammar, recitation 
and composition. 

(This table was compiled from the decrees issued by the Minister of 
Education for Prance Jan. 18th, 1887, Art. IX, XIX, as found in G. Com- 
payrS's "Organisation Pedagogique," supplemented for Manual Training by 
the decree of Sept. 17, 1898, and for Gymnastics by the decree of Aug. 8th, 
1S90, published by Delalain Freres, Paris, Collection 65.) 

cited in the mornings; (3) Every lesson and every task is to be 
accomplished by explanations and questions; (4) Corrections 
of tasks and recitation of lessons are to take place during the 
hours to which such tasks and recitations belong; (5) There 
shall be thirty hours per week of recitation, not including 
home study or study in the school room. 
The schools continue at least forty weeks each year. The 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 165 



Table LX. — Minutes of Recitation Time per Week devoted to Each 
Subject in Each Grade, and the Percentage of Total Time given 
to Each Subject in the Public Elementary Schools of Paris. 

Course. Elementary. Middle. Higher. 

Grade. 'Ti 



III. 



IV. 



V. 



VI. 



VII. 



Pet. 



1 Moral Instruction 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


90 


3.6 


2 Reading 


300 


300 








5.5 


3 Writing 


300 


300 


90 


90 


90 


60 


8.6 


6 Language, including 

(4) Dictation I 

(5) Grammar J 

(6) Recitation 

(7) Composition 


150 
60 


150 
60 


'} 540 


540 


540 


420 


22.8 


8 Mental Arithmetic or 
Metric System 
Arithmetic and Metric 

System 


150 


150 


270 


270 


270 


240 


12.5 


6 Geography 

10 History 

11 Civil Government 


120 


120 


I 210 


210 


210 


210 


10 


12 Common Things 

13 Physical & Natural 

Science 


60 


60 


90 


90 


90 


120 


H 


16 Gymnastics 
Recreation 


150 
150 


loO 
150 


210 


210 


210 


210 


13.3 


17 Drawing 


120 


120 


120 


120 


120 


180 


7.3 


18 Singing 


60 


60 


60 


60 


60 


90 3.6 


19 Manual Work 


120 


120 


150 


150 


150 


ISO 


8 


20 Sewing 


(120) 


(120) 


(150) 


(150) (J 


(180) 


(8 ) 


Total 


1800 


1800 


1800 


1800 


1800 


1800| 


Percentage of Recitation 


Time 


s devo 
Grade. 


ted to 


Each 


Subj 


set in Each 


1 Moral Instruction 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


5 




2 Reading 


16.6 


16.6 












3 Writing 


16.6 


16.6 


5 


5 


5 


3.3 




6 French Language 


8.3 


8.3 


30 


30 


30 


23.2 




8 Arithmetic 


8.3 


8.3 


15 


15 


15 


13.3 




9 Geography 

10 History & 

11 Civics 


6.6 


6.6 


11.6 


11.6 


11.6 


11.6 




12 Common Things 

13 Elementary Science 


3.3 


3.3 


5 


5 


5 


6.6 




16 Gymnastics & 
Recreation 


16.6 


16.6 


11.6 


11.6 


11.6 


11.6 




17 Drawing 


6.6 


6.6 


6.6 


6.6 


6.6 


10 




18 Singing 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


3.3 


5 




19 Manual Work 


6.6 


6.6 


8.3 


8.3 


8.3 


10 




20 Sewing 


(6.6) 


(6.6) 


(8.3) 


(8.3) 


(8.3) 


(10 ) 





average school year is from forty-two to forty-five weeks in 
length. Usually there are ten months of school proper ; July, 
the eleventh month, is reserved for reviews.* There are five 

•Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. VII., p. 99. 



166 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

days of school each week, with a holiday Thursday. Six hours 
constitute the length of the daily sessions, three in the morn- 
ing from eight to eleven o'clock, three in the afternoon from 
one to four. Two hours are given for recess. Promotion does 
not take place by years from grade to grade within a "course/ ' 
but at the teacher's discretion.* However, this amounts 
usually to promotion by years, except from the kindergarten 
schools where the transitions may occur three times a year, at 
October, January and Easter. 

The French child who attends this school from his seventh 
until his thirteenth birthday has attended school more hours 
than the child of the same age in England, Germany or Amer- 
ica. There is no other system which requires children to at- 
tend school such a large number of hours a week. The Prussian 
requirement shown in Table XLIV. approaches it in the upper 
grades but not in the lower. 

The American pupil, if he desires, probably remains in 
school a year longer than the French pupil but our school year 
is much briefer than the French. The American has about 
a scholastic month less each year. He misses two years fur- 
nished by the French Maternal and Infant Schools and he has 
one school hour less every day. Of course, however, the 
special exemptions from the compulsory attendance laws must 
be taken into account in the individual system under con- 
sideration. 

4. Time Allotments and Subjects Emphasized in the Ele- 
mentary Curriculum. 

If Table LIX. be contrasted with any of the preceding tables 
showing the emphasis placed upon different subjects, either by 
the central government or by the majority of cities, several 
differences are apparent as to time allotments. The "three 
R's" do not monopolize and overbalance the curriculum in 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. VII., p. 87. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 167 

France, the percentage being 48.6 per cent of the whole — fully 
10 per cent less than is devoted to this group of studies in 
America. This table shows far more relative time devoted to 
manual training, nature study, geography, history and civil 
government, and physical training than is found in the Amer- 
ican tables. Especially in manual training, drawing and 
physical training is this the case, nearly twice as much time 
being given to manual training and drawing in the French 
city school which is least advanced in these subjects as in the 
most progressive city schools of America. 

How shall we account for this unusual decline in the im- 
portance attached to the formal studies, and this unparalleled 
emphasis upon the content studies? If we adopt a current 
definition of content studies, which describes them as those 
studies leading more directly to an insight into the structure of 
society, we can easily say that the curriculum of France is two- 
thirds given over to content studies. How is this to be ex- 
plained? The answer is found in the definite aim set up by 
France and in the thoroughly organized system by means of 
which all forces are directed toward this end. Their principle 
of selection is thus stated by a recent French writer : ' ' The Re- 
public was from the first convinced that France, overcome by 
misfortunes, ought to find in every citizen a soldier and in 
every soldier an educated man. ' ' * The validity of this aim 
is not to be discussed here; surely it is better than no aim. 
It lends at once definiteness and liberality of judgment freed 
from the slavish worship of the curriculum of bygone days. 

All France regards the Primary School as a civic institu- 
tion. The French teacher has a purely civic mission to per- 
form as his first duty, other educational considerations coming 
afterward. He must before all else make a French citizen. 
That citizen must be a physical, an intellectual and a moral 

♦Maurice Faure, in Reports of Commissioner of Education, 1898-99, p. 
1095. 



168 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

man. Therefore all education has three distinct divisions. 
The government and municipal syllabi show the subject matter 
divided into these three groups, with a careful appointment of 
time to each. After the Franco-Prussian war, France needed 
farmers, artisans and soldiers, all of whom should be moral, 
capable and full of patriotism to France. Hence the 16.5 
per cent of relative time given to their national history and 
national geography, and the 6.3 per cent to nature study 
and elementary science as applied to agriculture and horti- 
culture, as well as the 8 per cent of time devoted to manual 
training. 

The tendency has somewhat changed in recent years with 
respect to the emphasis placed upon the special studies like 
manual training, drawing and physical training. In 1889 
when the need of such studies reached its greatest prominence 
in the public mind, the Department of the Seine, including the 
schools of Paris, curtailed the time given to moral training, 
reading, declamation, French language and arithmetic, and 
gave the borrowed time to physical training, drawing and 
manual training. This probably gave greater emphasis to 
the last three subjects than they have ever received in the 
course of study of any city so representative as Paris. In 
1898, however, the law for the Department of the Seine 
changed the time devoted to certain subjects in the fourth, 
fifth and sixth grades. The subjects losing time were writ- 
ing, manual training, gymnastics and recitation. The sub- 
jects which gained time were French language, arithmetic 
and civil government. This marks a reversion to the law 
operating before the extreme emphasis had been placed upon 
manual training, drawing and gymnastics. There is yet, 
however, much more time devoted to the last three subjects 
than is given them in the schools of the United States. 

There was one other interesting feature in the experiment 
made by the School Commissioners for Paris, 1889 to 1898. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 169 

In the law of 1889, manual training, drawing and singing 
were distributed with little variation of recitation time over 
the three courses, elementary, middle and higher. The 
primary pupil was supposed to pursue these subjects with 
only little less ability than the upper grammar grade pupil. 
This regulation was reversed by the law of 1898. The rel- 
ative time allotment of groups of subjects as it appears in 
the syllabus of the Elementary Schools of Paris at present 
is as follows: 

Time per Week Devoted to 
General Drawing, Manual Gymnastics & 

Course. Age. Instruction.* Training & Singing. Recreation. 

Elementary 7- 9 years 1200 300 300 

Middle 9-11 years 1140 360 300 

Higher 11-13 years 900 540 360 

This summary shows an increasing time allotment to special 
studies in the upper grades and a decreasing time allotment 
to the general studies. It suggests that specialization is being 
removed from the lower grades to the higher. This is cer- 
tainly in harmony with the American policy of bringing 
electives as near as possible to the high school and out of the 
elementary grades. May this not cause one to wonder if 
France has not learned a lesson and is not attempting to re- 
trace her steps in search of middle ground between the formal 
and the content studies? There certainly is a valuable sug- 
gestion in this revision regarding the question of the place 
of electives and the nature of the subjects of instruction 
which should make up the elective course. 

5. The Striking Qualities and the Content of Particular Sub- 
jects of Instruction. 

Let us analyze certain interesting subjects of instruction 
found in Tables LIX. and LX. in order to ascertain their 
content and their organized relation, as contrasted with the 
same analysis of similar subjects in America. We shall first 

♦General instruction refers to all other subjects found in Table LX. 
except these specified here in the two columns to the right. 



170 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

consider what to the Frenchman is the most important sub- 
ject in the curriculum. 

Moral Instruction.— The German and the English ap- 
peal to the volitional and religious sentiments of their 
school children by teaching the Bible and religion ; democratic 
France claims that morality is more universal. We are told 
that she is at present subordinating everything else to moral 
instruction.* The effort of recent years is to develop a social 
morality, a morality which will emphasize the virtues not as ab- 
stractions, but as they are called for by the relations between 
people in the community. The low assignment of relative 
time to this subject does not indicate its importance, as the 
Minister of Education has issued definite instructions to the 
effect that every lesson, if possible, shall be a lesson in morals. 
The summary of the topics in this subject prescribed by the 
government syllabus, is given below, the numbers referring 
to the grades in which the topics are taught: 

Conversations and readings on morals, II., III., IV., V. ; 
instruction from observed facts, I., II.. III., IV. ; the child in 
the family, IV., V. ; the child in the school, IV., V. ; the native 
land, IV., V., VI., VII.; duties toward oneself, IV., V.; 
duties toward other men, IV., V ; regard for animals, IV., V. ; 
social morality, VI., VII.; the family, VI., VII.; conditions 
of society, VI., VII. ; alcoholism, VI., VII. ; duties of the citi- 
zen, VI., VII.; taxes, VI., VII.; the ballot, VI., VII.; rights 
of the citizen, VI., VII. ; personal liberty, VI., VII. ; security 
of life and property, VI., VII. ; the national sovereignty, VI., 
VII.; difference between duty and interest, VI., VII.; dis- 
tinction between written and moral law, VI., VII. 

The question naturally arises whether it is worth while to 
provide for the teaching of morals and manners by appoint- 
ing a specific recitation in that subject in the program. Will 

'"Educational Lessons of the Paris Exposition," by A. T. Smith, in 
Educational Review, September, 1901. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 171 

the children be any more polite, any more unselfish, modest 
and refined 1 Or is such teaching, as many pessimists claim, 
so theoretical, so far removed from life, that the child forgets 
to practice it outside the school room? 

Perhaps no better evidence is extant upon this subject than 
that offered by Mr. Brereton, who was in 1901 appointed by 
the Board of Education of England to make a careful per- 
sonal visit to the rural and village schools of France, and re- 
port to the Department. His summary is as follows: 

"Of the discipline and behavior of the pupils in every 
grade and type of school it would be difficult to speak too 
highly. Alike in the towns and in the villages, on the play- 
ground and in the class room, courtesy is the invariable rule. 
The children answer brightly and intelligently, they like to 
show their work, and their interest in the experimental and 
practical lessons is very marked. Students in the higher 
schools and colleges are just as courteous. There is the same 
disposition everywhere to assist a stranger, to answer all his 
questions and to tell him what he wants to know. Even in 
the class rooms for older girls as at Ecole Menagere at Rouen, 
there is no trace of 'mauvaise honte' or giggling, and all the 
girls, except the one addressed, proceed quietly with their 
work. Of course the same features might be observed in 
English schools, but it is to be feared that in many of our 
village schools the appearance of a foreigner speaking indif- 
ferent English and asking innumerable questions might 
attract unpleasant attention. My inquiry led me over a wide 
area and in no case did I experience the slightest rudeness 
or foolish shyness. Boys and girls at play would run off at 
once to fetch any one whom one wanted, while the rest went 
on with their games. Lightheartedness and good fellowship 
seem to pervade every school. ' '* 

Truly, when the American citizen studies the attempt in 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. VII., p. 255. 



172 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

the public elementary schools of the other leading nations 
of the world to train a virtuous citizen by instruction looking 
directly to that end, he must experience a sense of regret and 
shame. America alone makes no direct and specific provision 
for the moral or religious training of her children in the pub- 
lic schools. We too often attempt to excuse our negligence 
by flippant derision of such efforts upon the part of other 
nations. Such wholesale criticism ought not to be expressed 
without sufficient evidence. It is suggested, for instance, 
that the conclusions in the above quotation are not logically 
drawn, inasmuch as those results observed by the English 
educator may have come from the fact that the French are 
naturally polite. This we shall grant in part, but it is not 
universally agreed that good morals and polite manners are 
native instincts transmitted through heredity. We believe 
that the environment contributes more to the making of the 
moral and courteous citizen than the particular parentage 
from which he springs. At least the public elementary school 
is founded upon this hypothesis. And we are strongly of the 
belief that the definite aim of the school to inculcate man- 
ners and morals lends much to the totality of those environ- 
mental influences which produce the French hospitality and 
politeness. Few students fail to be impressed with the abso- 
lute sincerity and earnestness of the French people with re- 
gard to moral training, as expressed by the publications of 
the State officials and the efforts of their teachers. There 
may be some excuse for the prejudice against the experiment 
as it is found in the schools of a monarchy, but when the re- 
sults have been found gratifying in the schools of a demo- 
cratic government resembling our own, much of our adverse 
criticism should give place to constructive experiments in 
the same direction. 

Handwork. — It has been shown by previous statements 
that the French government in attempting to develop the 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 173 

useful citizen and an intelligent artisan class directed its at- 
tention toward manual training. This emphasis is mani- 
fested in the assignment of a larger amount of time to manual 
training than is given that subject in the schools of any other 
country. Another interesting feature of this study is that 
the government not only assigns the time but enumerates the 
topics to be taught. In the following summary relatively 
few topics may be observed in the six year course, as con- 
trasted with similar work done by our own schools. The 
topics are as follows: 

For boys: card board cutting, II., III., IV.; basket work, 
II., III., IV. ; clay modeling, II., III., IV. ; book-binding, V., 
VI. ; bent iron work, V., VI. ; wood work, V., VI. ; study of 
tools, V., VI. ; drawing and modeling, VI., VII. ; use of plane, 
VI., VII.; finishing and polishing, VI., VII. 

For girls: elementary sewing, II., III., IV., V., VI.; 
straight sewing, whipping and seaming, III., IV., V., VI., 
VII. ; sewing on coarse cloth, III., IV. ; sewing by design, III., 
IV., V., VI.; mending, III., IV., V., VI., VII; crochet, II., 
IV., V., VI., VII.; knitting, II., III., IV., V., VI., 
VII.; making small garments, IV., V., VI., VII.; work on 
sewing machine, VI., VII. 

Geography. — Geography furnishes another example of 
the importance attached in France to an understanding of the 
local and national environment. The following summary of 
topics from that study will show that most of the attention 
is given to the geography of France. The study of the geog- 
raphy of other parts of the world is taken up in only a few 
lessons at the end of the elementary school life. The same 
intensely national spirit, mentioned as a reason for the un- 
usual allotment to geography and history, is exemplified in 
the selection of topics in geography. The topics and the 
grades in which they are taught are : the cardinal points, II., 
III.; the weather, II., III.; geographical terms, II., 



174 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

III.; home geography, II., III.; features of local geography, 
II., III.; map study, II., III.; France and her colonies, IV., 
V., VI., VII.; map drawing, IV., V., VI., VII.; political 
geography of France, IV., V.; physical and political geog- 
raphy of Europe, VI., VII. ; geography of the world, VI., VII. 

History. — History is taught in the same grades as geog- 
raphy, and special emphasis is given in its study to the civil 
government of France. No table heretofore presented shows 
such a splendid opportunity for correlation as does the French 
arrangement of nature study, geography and history. The 
same willingness to omit all except the indispensable, which 
has been found to be the characteristic of geography and his- 
tory teaching in German schools, as distinguished from our 
own, is to be remarked in the schools of France. The topics 
and grades are : 

National history, I., II., III., elementary French history 
to the Hundred Years' War, II., III.; elementary French 
history since the Hundred Years' War, IV., V.; review of the 
history of France, VI., VII.; notions of general history, VI., 
VII.; notions of antiquity, VI., VII.; notions of medieval 
and modern history, VI., VII.; current events, VI., VII. 

In the outline of history offered by Gabriel Compayre in 
his .book "Organisation Pedagogique" (pp. 108-115), in the 
six years' course under discussion only three months out of 
forty-four contain topics that might be included under any 
other than French history. 

Language.— We shall not take space to give an analysis 
of the subject matter in language. There are two peculiari- 
ties, however, which ought to be mentioned. A large amount 
of national literature is taught in both France and America. 
It is barely possible that in democratic countries it is of more 
vital importance that the national literature receive greater 
prominence ; but, however that may be, much of the time for 
language study is given to formal grammar in Germany and 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 175 

England. The other feature, peculiar to France, is that the 
large amount of time devoted to composition writing is given 
over to making brief summaries of good literature, a practice 
worthy of emulation elsewhere. 

Arithmetic. — The analysis of topics in arithmetic is 
given below merely to corroborate an opinion already offered, 
to the effect that overcrowding in the American curriculum 
is due largely to the lack of good organization of the sub- 
otpics in the various studies and to unwillingness to omit 
those topics that have no great usefulness to the child or 
society. It will be noticed that there are far fewer topics in 
arithmetic than are found in Table XIV. for ten American 
schools, notwithstanding the fact that this table was pre- 
scribed not for ten schools but for all the schools of France. 
It also appears that certain fundamental topics are taught 
within a few grades and dispensed with, whereas with us they 
are repeated in all the grades. The topics are: numeration, 
addition, subtraction, multiplication, II., III.; division, 
weights and measures, II., III., IV., V., VI., VII.; mental 
arithmetic, II., III. ; review of previous courses, IV., V., VI., 
VII. ; fractions, IV., V., VI., VII. ; decimal fractions, IV., V. ; 
proportion, IV., V. ; simple interest, IV., V., VI., VII. ; prime 
factors, greatest common multiple, discount, partnership, 
metric system, book-keeping, VI., VII. ; geometry, II., III., IV., 
V., VI., VII. 

Physical Training. — It would not be proper to close 
the discussion of the content and emphasis of the individual 
subjects of instruction without noticing what is most con- 
spicuous in the curriculum of the French schools, viz., the 
great importance attached to physical training. Its relative 
importance is shown in the allotment of 9.6 per cent of the 
total school time of all French schools to physical training. 
In Paris 13.3 per cent of the total recitation time is given 
to it. The law for the schools of the Republic requires that 



176 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

two hours per day shall be given to physical exercise, includ- 
ing recess and recreation. Manual training and calisthenics 
furnish extra exercise. As they enter school in the mornings 
and afternoons all children are required to be inspected for 
physical cleanliness, these periods being reserved on each pro- 
gram. We are told that if they do not pass muster they 
are rushed off without hesitation to the bath rooms, with 
which many of the schools are provided. The schools of 
Paris are medically inspected twice a month; the Maternal 
Schools are visited once a week by a physician ; official regu- 
lations forbid the teaching of sewing to small children, for 
hygienic reasons; the teachers are required to be present on 
the play grounds during recess periods to direct the play of 
the children. These are only a few of the regulations re- 
garding the physical development of the child intrusted to 
the care of the State. Certainly, there is no such painstaking 
care for the health of the American child on the part of the 
State, and the assignment of time for that purpose which has 
been shown on previous pages does not make such care pos- 
sible in the schools of the United States. 

6. Organic Unity in the Course of Study. 

Viewing the curriculum of France in all its relations we 
are forced to conclude that centralization under State control 
is the lesson which France has for us. Its perfectly de- 
veloped bureaucratic organization, and its clearly conceived 
plan for the whole of the educational system guarantees suc- 
cess in its undertakings. Every man knows his work. Each 
teacher is in full possession of the State's policy as it applies 
to every school of a given type. The most perfectly trained 
educational experts of the nation are in the government's 
service, usually as leaders in the central offices. Such a com- 
pany must of necessity inspire the confidence and emulation 
of the great mass of teachers in the service of elementary 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 177 

schools. By means of the connection maintained through 
the inspectors sent out from the central bureau, there arises 
a cooperation between the teachers of the various localities 
and the central authority, which makes it possible to accom- 
plish definite results. 

The first of the achievements attained by this perfectly 
articulated system is an almost ideal uniformity regarding 
the particulars of the elementary curriculum. Practically all 
studies begun by the child who enters school at five or six years 
of age are continued by him in some form until he is thirteen. 
The only changes noted are those referring to the amplifica- 
tion of the course in history so as to include civics, 
the extension of ornamental drawing so as to include linear 
drawing, and the direction of elementary science and nature 
study toward horticulture and agriculture by means of the 
school garden. It has already been shown that such a per- 
fect balancing of the formal and the content, the abstract and 
and concrete, the theoretical and the practical, cannot be 
found in any of the other systems of education. This obser- 
vation is especially pertinent to the schools of the United 
States. 

Tables LIX. and LX. display types of a course of study 
having such perfection of articulation and such unified parts, 
that the admission or omission of any study would require 
the remodeling of the entire course. This curriculum above 
all others, therefore, must be regarded as a unified whole and 
not as a collection of unrelated parts. No new subject, or 
even new topic, could be included unless called for by some 
new need of society which had worked itself out into definite 
form. The piecework and patchwork method of tagging on 
every new "ology" to an already overcrowded curriculum, 
apart from its relation to human needs as expressed in the 
welfare of the social group, could find no place in a course 
of study so organically related as that of France. The 



178 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

French genius for systematic organization, as displayed in the 
uniformity of the elementary curriculum, has taught the 
pedagogic world that definite results respecting social effi- 
ciency can be accomplished only when a certain symmetry 
and connectedness of parts exists within the entire course of 
study. 

The common objection raised to such unified courses of 
study is that they do not provide for the individual interests, 
character and capacities of the child. The answer made is 
that the public elementary schools cannot and probably should 
not primarily make such allowances. The large work of the 
people's schools is to raise to a higher level the mass of citi- 
zens who attend only these schools, not to interest themselves 
in a few geniuses to the neglect of the rank and file. The 
larger group must be protected against casualties, and this 
can only be done by uniformity of system and subject matter. 

7. The Controlling Influence of the Needs of Society and the 
Demands of the Environment. 

Moreover there is evidence for the belief that, for indi- 
vidual differences as expressed in individual environments, 
the French plan is as capable of securing a wide selection, 
and in fact does secure such selection, as much as any other 
plan. For the French authorities insist that in the program 
which they prescribe, it is assumed that the subject most im- 
portant in the social life of a given community will be 
handled more at length and more thoroughly than one which 
has no such close relation to the immediate environment.* 
No school system has more completely committed itself than 
the French to the principle of the supreme importance of the 
social needs and therefore of the environmental need of its 
pupils, as a determining factor in the choice of the subject 
matter of the curriculum. This has determined the standard 

♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. VII., p. 140. 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 179 

of omission and admission of subjects, and it will account, for 
instance, for the unusual amount of motor-active subjects al- 
ready discussed in this study. It is to be remarked again that 
this standard is largely responsible for the proper balancing 
■ and ordering of material in the French curriculum. 

8. Correlation. 

Correlation is the logical outcome of the two characteristics 
discussed in the preceding paragraphs. The well-known 
English educator, Mr. Cloudesley Brereton, has summarized 
the methods and matter aiding correlation in the French cur- 
riculum in his excellent study of French schools. He says: 

"The moral of the whole curriculum of French primary 
education will be lost on English readers if they have not 
seen, from the brief notes on ordinary subjects, and the de- 
tailed examination of agricultural education, the way in which 
the subjects not only dovetail into one another but overlap, 
with the result of producing, not indeed confusion, but co- 
hesion. Thus the reading lesson is drawn on for moral edu- 
cation, moral education in its turn draws upon the history 
book, history is worked in with geography, geography, 
through its physical features, finds its basis in science, science 
again is the point of departure for agriculture, which coalesces 
with arithmetic in the agricultural accounts, and in geometry, 
the practical geometry is connected with drawing, and draw- 
ing with writing, the writing is worked through the spelling 
and the reading book, out of which springs the recitation, 
which forms with it the happy hunting ground for the gram- 
mar questions. Thus the whole gamut of subjects is not 
only related but inter-related and finally correlated. And 
now perhaps it is plain how impossible it is to isolate such a 
subject as moral instruction, agriculture, etc., that cannot be 
severed from the whole curriculum without mutilating it, 
by cutting into at the time certain integral portions of other 



180 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

subjects, for the parts of the curriculum are not really de- 
tachable as the parts of a watch, they are members of the 
corpus of studies that make up the program of elementary 
education."* 



♦Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Vol. VII., p. 139. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONCLUSION. 

1. The Two Controlling Standards in the Selection of Sub- 
ject Matter in the Elementary Curriculum. 

In the four previous chapters the curricula of the public 
elementary schools of the United States, England, Germany 
and France have been examined in order to discover the 
actual matter and arrangement of the subjects of instruction. 
This study has called attention more especially to the content 
of the curricula, the distribution by grades of the subjects 
of study, the time both actual and relative allotted to each 
subject, the analysis of the content of the respective subjects, 
and the relative importance attached to various subjects. An 
attempt has been made to answer the question as to what the 
real course of study in the elementary school is in all its vari- 
ous phases. The conclusions regarding various problems 
raised at the beginning of this investigation have been stated 
in the proper place. But before quitting the subject it is 
perhaps best to restate these conclusions and implications. 

In the first place, it should not be concluded that our study 
assumes that the mere existence of a subject with a given time 
allotment in a certain curriculum of one of these school sys- 
tems is proof positive of its absolute and universal validity. 
The idea is advanced, however, that the presence of a subject 
in a large number of the curricula gives some probability of 
its worth. For it is not fair to assume that these courses of 
study were aimlessly constructed without the presence of 

181 



182 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

reason or definitely conceived guiding principles. Certainly 
some of the educators responsible for these courses of study, 
especially in France and Germany, represent the most pro- 
found thinkers in educational matters. These educational 
experts must have developed their courses of study upon 
some set of principles answering a general need of humanity, 
else there could not have resulted such uniformity in curricula 
designed to meet the needs of very different peoples. No one 
can fail to be impressed with the fact that the general prin- 
ciples which govern the selection and arrangement of the sub- 
ject matter of the elementary curriculum are practically the 
same in the four educational systems here studied. From 
time to time in these pages, certain clearly perceived guiding 
principles have emerged, which are common more or less to 
all school systems, and attention has been called to them. 

It is only necessary in conclusion to recall those principles 
which seem to constitute the most frequent criteria for the se- 
lection and omission of the subject matter of the curriculum, 
as well as those which serve as guides for the arrangement 
and distribution of such subject matter. We shall be forced 
to content ourselves again with the briefest statement of those 
principles, believing that their development has been so well 
displayed by others as to make them self-evident to expe- 
rienced educators.* The only excuse for stating them again 
is because they have not seemed to be as frequently applied 
or implied in the American curricula as in others which have 
been presented. 

The two fundamental questions regarding the curriculum 
are, first, What are the needs of the civilization in which the 

♦Those wishing a fuller treatment of the two controlling standards in 
the selection and arrangement of the subject matter of the curriculum may 
find it in the following publications: by Dr. John Dewey, (1) Ethical Prin- 
ciples underlying Education, (2) The School and Society, (3) The Child and 
the Curriculum, (4) Primary Education Fetish (in Forum, Vol. 25), (5) In- 
terest as related to Will ; by Dr. W. T. Harris, Psychologic Foundations of 
Education ; by Prof. John S. Mackenzie, Introduction to Social Philosophy ; 
by Dr. F. M. McMurry, Advisable Omissions from the Elementary Curric- 
ulum, and_ Xb,% Basis for Them (in mutational Revieio, May, 1904). 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 183 

child is to play an active part ? and second, What is the nature 
of the child who is to be fitted to this civilization? Briefly, 
education has to do with the experience of the race and the 
experience of the child; the activities of the race and the 
activities of the child; the needs of society and the needs of 
the child. The curriculum must, then, provide for the socio- 
logical and the psychological aspects of human life. We take 
up the sociological first. 

Society undertakes to transmit the experience and ideals 
of the race and it chooses the school as an agency for this 
transmission. The school is fundamentally a social institu- 
tion, set up by society for its own protection, i. e., for the 
preservation of the best of its experience and ideals. It is, in 
short, the function of the school to adjust or relate the indi- 
viduals of the social group to the social whole of which they 
are parts. In this fact we find the controlling standard in 
the selection of the subject matter in education. Briefly 
stated, this principle is that the needs of society should de- 
termine the selection of the subjects and topics of study in 
the elementary school. These needs are discovered by observ- 
ing the activities of society. What the adult group is doing 
and thinking in life, the child will in all likelihood have to 
do and think. Therefore if society controls the school it 
should mould the curriculum. The teacher is to make up his 
course of study from life's problems and needs, and he has 
no moral right to select his subject matter from other sources. 
This social standard is really what we have found as the 
criterion for the selection of material of instruction in the 
majority of curricula of the four elementary school systems 
just studied. Whenever we have not found it in operation 
we have had occasion to criticise the selection and arrange- 
ment of subjects and topics, as well as the allotment of time. 

The use of this standard, like charity, must begin at home. 
Numerous cases of foreign curricula are therefore presented, 



184 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

illustrating the attempt to permit the needs of the immediate 
environment to control in the selection and arrangement of 
the subjects and topics of instruction. We have had to con- 
demn our own schools for failure in this respect. We in 
America have emphasized subjects and topics for their re- 
mote value rather than those which satisfy the pressing needs 
of the child's life and society's demand in the present. Our 
curriculum too much suggests that the elementary school is 
only a preparation for life, rather than life itself. The sub- 
ject matter and method in the public elementary school must 
be a duplicate in miniature of the work and method of life 
outside the school, before the school can claim to fulfill the 
function for which society supports it. Examples of the 
monopoly of time by studies that prepare for the high school 
and for the college, are found in our public elementary schools 
where ninety-five per cent of the children do not attend high 
school and ninety-nine do not attend college, but are drawn 
into the vortex of the struggle for life with only the element- 
ary school training. Hence the need among officials of the 
American elementary schools for a realization of the absolute 
authority of the social standard in the selection of the matter 
of instruction in the elementary schools. 

In order that the individual may become organically re- 
lated to the whole of society, he must become acquainted with 
the structure of the social experience and with the instru- 
mentalities by which it is communicated from age to age. A 
study, to contribute to the social good, must be a brief repre- 
sentation of the structure of society or a type of the instru- 
mentalities by which society carries itself along. The meas- 
ure of a study is its capacity for developing, within the indi- 
vidual, social efficiency and insight. 

The predominance of the needs of society in the selection 
of the subject matter is what we have referred to as the social 
standard. The question to be asked about any subject of in- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 185 

struction is, what is its worth in meeting the demands which 
society will place upon the student? Likewise, in determin- 
ing the importance of a subject, how much time shall be as- 
signed to it, and what topics shall be taught and emphasized 
in each subject, the questions to ask are : For how much does 
it count in real life? How much does the ideal citizen need 
this subject or topic? Is it representative of social life? If 
the American school could apply this strenuous standard as 
severely as it is found applied in some of the better curricula 
of the foreign schools studied on the previous pages, much 
waste of time might be avoided, and great unification and 
concentration of power result. 

In the mind of the sympathetic teacher the question always 
arises : Shall not the nature, needs, and interests of the child 
count for something? Is society everything and the child 
nothing but a part of the great mass of "dumb driven cat- 
tle?" Are individuality and personality to have no freedom 
of growth? Must all be conformed, Chinese-like, to the gen- 
eral pattern set by social heritage? Is it true that "the 
individual withers, and the world is more and more?" 

While at first thought the social standard just discussed 
seems to oppose the ideas championed in these questions, the 
conflict is only apparent. In reality, the nature of the child 
has had its share of influence in the arrangement if not in 
the selection of subject matter in the curricula outlined in 
the four preceding chapters. Certainly the capacity and the 
native interests of childhood dictate more than any other 
principle the location of the subjects and topics by grades in 
the elementary school. Society may tell us what to teach, 
but the child alone will dictate to us when and how to teach it. 

Furthermore, if the experience and needs of society are 
the end points in education, it is certainly true that the expe- 
rience and needs of the child are the beginning points. There 
can be nothing grafted on from without for which there has 



186 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

been no adequate preparation in the child's experience. 
Psychologically, there should be nothing prescribed in a 
course of study which is not within the bounds of the child's 
capacities, experience and interests, for nothing beyond the 
bounds of his experience is comprehensible to the child until 
worked over in terms of his own experience. It is a com- 
monly granted psychological principle today that the native 
powers of the child are the primary factors in his acquirement 
of social experience. The nature of his impulses and instincts 
determines very largely how we shall direct him in the acqui- 
sition of the social experience which we have discussed as the 
end point in education. And, in fact, they determine what 
phases of social life the child can assimilate at all. There are 
certain needs in society for which certain children can never 
be fitted, simply because of the lack in their natures of powers 
by which to apperceive the given social requirement. Again 
we can say that while society tells us what to teach it is the 
nature of the child which tells us how to teach it. For in- 
stance, while the needs of society decide for us whether gram- 
mar shall be taught, the interests, capacities and experience 
of the child decide how early it should be taught, and, most 
important of all, whether it shall be taught through the em- 
ployment of rich emotional literature, or through the use of 
a book of abstract rules known as grammar. 

In concluding this discussion of the controlling principles 
in the elementary curriculum, we should repeat that there 
are two points of view in the curriculum, the one sociological, 
the other psychological. The one views the curriculum as a 
finished product and thinks of it in terms of value ; the other 
views it as a factor in a process, and thinks of the impulses, 
instincts and undeveloped powers of the child which are to 
be realized through the process of education by means of 
the study. One point of view has to do with the product and 
is logical ; the other has to ^o with the process and is genetic, 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 187 

The sociological, which represents the fundamental needs, 
activities, structure and instrumentalities of social life, should 
have preeminent control; the psychological, which includes 
the capacities, needs, interests and impulses of the individual 
child should have the largest consideration consistent with 
the social standard in the selection and arrangement of the 
subject matter of instruction. 

2. Conclusions Re-Stated. 

Perhaps the most vital and pressing question regarding 
the elementary curriculum of city schools in America is the 
cry arising from teachers and parents that the curriculum is 
overcrowded. The complaint indicates that too much is be- 
ing attempted to insure successful work on the part of teacher 
or pupils. Confusion of mind, divided attention and nervous 
strain are results following overcrowding. It has been 
shown on previous pages that the great increase in the num- 
ber of subjects of instruction and more especially the in- 
creased number of topics in the syllabi prescribed by the 
American school authorities may be largely responsible for 
this complaint. At any rate, a smaller number of time allot- 
ments and of topics in the large subjects were found to be 
required of teachers in other countries. The fact is that the 
more severe application of the social standard and the will- 
ingness to freely omit subjects and topics not in harmony 
with that standard, are responsible for the absence of this 
complaint among foreign educators. The implication to be 
noticed here is, of course, that the same standard and the same 
practice would relieve the American city schools which are 
now complaining of overcrowding. On the other hand, many 
of the schools of America have declined to so enrich the 
course of study as to meet the needs of society and the child. 
Here again our social standard will assist us. 

In Table LXIII, may be found the suggestions drawn from 



188 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

this study with reference to this question. Briefly, the sug- 
gestion to those schools in America which do not count for 
much in the lives of the citizens near to them, would be to 
decrease the time allotted to the abstract subjects, whose 
chief recommendation is their value as mental discipline, and 
to increase the time allotted to those more concrete subjects 
which lead more directly to a comprehension of the structure, 
needs and activities of human life. A sufficient mental dis- 
cipline may be furnished by studies which develop the ability 
to participate in human affairs. Moreover, we should sug- 
gest from the foregoing study that there is more in life than 
intellectuality. The volitional, the emotional, the aesthetic, 
the physical count for very much more in the lives of the 
average citizen than does the intellectual aspect of life. In- 
tellectuality is a means to an end with most people and not 
an end in itself. We wish to know in order to do. Doing 
and not abstract thinking has constituted and will for some 
time constitute the employment of the great majority of all 
persons attending the public elementary schools of America. 

The lack of organic unity in the American course of study 
presents the one striking contrast between the curriculum of 
our country and some others presented in this paper. Sub- 
jects are grafted on to the elementary school course of study 
from the high school without previous preparation for them 
in the earlier primary grades, apparently on the assumption 
that the elementary course is a mechanical mass of unrelated 
parts. Subjects are dropped after a year or two, or are be- 
gun at any point in the eight years. The psychological de- 
mand for organic relations, unity and symmetry is almost 
ignored in the American school curriculum. The child is 
not introduced to a symmetrical whole, but to an aggregation 
of isolated parts, broken into by unreasonable gaps of time 
allotments and lapses of months and years of recitation time. 

This chaos occasioned by the lack of organic relation be- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 189 

tween the subject matter of one grade and that of another, 
would seem to find its ultimate explanation in the assumption 
on the part of the curriculum builders that the elementary 
school is a college preparatory school. Educators of other 
nations claim that the public elementary school is not a school 
whose primary business is the preparation of students for 
college. As a matter of fact, scarcely one per cent of those 
attending the school ever attend college. Hence it is thor- 
oughly undemocratic to allow a one per cent minority to con- 
trol a ninety-nine per cent majority. The foreigner inti- 
mates that a curriculum built on this plan is despotic to a 
degree not found in monarchical governments. We retort 
that the foreign plan of erecting one school for those who 
attend a college and a different one for those who may not 
attend college is a sanction if not a guarantee of the caste 
system. 

We further compliment our own system by asserting its 
claim to offer an equal opportunity to all, which is undoubt- 
edly sound democracy. To the wisdom of this principle Eng- 
land would assent, for her curriculum like ours offers both 
those subjects that may be serviceable for immediate life and 
also a list which prepare for college, with the privilege on the 
part of the student of electing which he shall pursue. Prance 
and Germany practically oppose such a plan. They claim 
that the organic unity of the whole curriculum is destroyed 
by the attempt to incorporate the two aims, and that the 
subject matter which leads directly into social life leads 
away from a preparation for college life, and vice versa. 
Therefore, they erect the public elementary school to do one 
thing and another type of school to do the other. 

In a study of elementary schools which aims to state con- 
clusions contained in the facts investigated and not to pursue 
a personal and opinionated discussion of those conclusions, 
these two opposing ideals are left to the consideration of the 



190 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

reader. It would seem that while all four countries claim to 
be aiming at equality of opportunity to the pupil and organic 
relation in the curriculum, England and America do probably 
succeed more in accomplishing the former end, while Germany 
and France succeed in the latter end. 

The absence of any central authority which would serve 
as a unifying agency between the different city school courses 
of study is one source of waste in the American schools. 
There is no guarantee of uniformity even between two schools 
only a short distance apart. Railway communications have 
connected the individual, social and intellectual life of adja- 
cent communities; the isolation of educational life as pro- 
vided for in the schools still remains a glaring anachronism 
in our civilization. Some modification of the semi-bureau- 
cratic system of England, which would insure unity among 
the various cities within a given state, has been suggested. 
Such a central authority should still make due allowance for 
local control and environmental peculiarities. 

The absence of the teaching of the Bible or morals in our 
schools is regarded as a weakness by many foreigners. As 
regards Bible teaching, it has been suggested that either Ger- 
many's or England's example might be followed by us with- 
out detriment to our democratic ideals. In these countries 
the parents are allowed to withdraw their children during 
the recitation in Scripture when conducted by a teacher not 
of their own choice. In this connection might be mentioned 
the correlative need of opening exercises. Doubtless a syste- 
matic course in Bible teaching would greatly improve this 
too often worthless exercise. 

The English practice of providing a course of study partly 
required and partly elective, or the French practice of having 
electives in certain subjects in the higher grades, furnishes 
opportunity for those educators who are interested in the 
development of the exceptional child, the genius or the dull- 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 191 

ard, to provide for individuality. The question of electives 
needs and is receiving careful consideration in America at 
present. It would be profitable for us to make a thorough 
study of the practice of England and France before settling 
upon a final course of action in this respect. 

The need of a sub-primary class, such as the English or 
French infant schools, has been felt to be a want in Ameri- 
can education. The gap between the home and the school de- 
mands this sub-primary class. Besides the plan suggested by 
France and England, the American kindergarten offers addi- 
tional ideas. The German practice of requiring and direct- 
ing home study makes a partial contribution in this direction. 
The good service rendered by such a system of schools, hav- 
ing a proper course of study, has been pointed out in con- 
nection with the schools of France and England. 

The brief time of the daily school sessions in America has 
been compared with that of other countries, with a view to 
ascertaining if there is any basis of fact for excuse of our 
practice. This comparison brought out a strong probability 
that the American child could and should spend more time 
in school than he does in some of the city schools herein 
investigated. This need of more recitation time is suggested, 
though not vindicated, by the poor training received by the 
average teacher as contrasted with that of teachers in other 
countries, and also by the absence of any single definite aim 
toward which the elementary school in general, and the 
curriculum in particular, is directed in the United States. 
For it is usually conceded that a well-trained teacher with 
a clearly conceived aim would not require so much of the 
child's time in school as would a poorly trained teacher in an 
aimless school. 

From time to time in this study occasions have arisen for 
criticism of the usual American elementary curriculum with 
respect to what are known as formal or abstract studies. The 



192 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

time allotted to the formal as represented by such studies 
as arithmetic, grammar, reading, writing and language study 
per se, in many of our public elementary school systems is 
doubtless too great. In other countries the same subjects 
seem to have been taught with more success by giving the 
formal through the rich content subjects. This is partly due 
to the fact that too great a distinction seems to exist 
between the theoretical and the practical in the American 
mind. A feeling prevails that the purely theoretical, the 
symbolical and the abstract are to be placed off on one side, 
as against the useful, the constructive and the aesthetic on 
the other. In our social life we have made distinctions upon 
this basis, dividing men off as workers and thinkers. The 
distinction is purely hypothetical. Men do not learn that 
way, and men do not live that way. In human life we are 
all both doers and thinkers, — the one because we are the 
other. 

This false conception probably assists in accounting for 
the fact that provision is not made for the teaching of the 
formal through other more concrete subjects, as in othei 
countries. Why can not we, too, teach the formal side of 
language through emotional literature; formal science and 
mathematics through history, handwork, geography, etc.? 
Or, could not each of these five last-named subjects be en- 
riched and the time devoted to them shortened by applying 
more of the constructive forms of school work to their solu- 
tion? Why could not the child be taught to begin with the 
social activities of the present and work back in the casual 
sequence to the correlative fields of history, science, mathe- 
matics, or into any other department of study ? 

One answer which this investigation makes to these ques- 
tions is that the distribution and time allotments of the sub- 
jects are such that teaching the formal through such rich sub- 
jects as history, geography, handwork, nature study, etc., is 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 193 

practically impossible in America at present. There must 
be a rearrangement of time allotments in the elementary 
curriculum before such is possible. History and handwork 
are delayed too long, nature study and geography lose in 
time assignments too early, literature is not sufficiently uni- 
formly distributed to allow the practice of others to be carried 
out by us. This deficiency is one which demands the serious 
consideration of the American educator. 

Correlation of subjects also is largely impossible under the 
present arrangement of the course of study, since subjects 
which would lend themselves best to correlation are not taught, 
or are not given prominence, during the same school year. 

3. Time Allotments in the Curricula of Schools of the United 
States, England, Germany and France, Summar- 
ized into One Composite Table. 

Several problems were set for this investigation in the out- 
set, the conclusion and implications of which can best be 
shown in tabular form. The relative importance attached to 
subjects, the proper balancing of the various subjects of in- 
struction, the relative time devoted to each subject, and the 
grade in which each is taught, are among the matters which 
^e shall now attempt to summarize by tables. Besides giving 
information upon these subjects the tables will emphasize in 
a graphic way many of the facts already discussed in this 
chapter. 

The two tables in question are summaries of all the time 
allotment tables heretofore furnished. Table LXI. is a sum- 
mary of the ten American time allotment tables, II.-XI. ; of 
the ten English tables, XXVI.-XXXV.; of the ten German 
tables, XLV.-LIV. ; and of the Paris table, LX. Table LXII. 
is a summary of the courses of study of the elementary schools 
of New York, London, Berlin and Paris, found in Tables II., 
XXVL, XLV. and LX., respectively. We have here the actual 



194 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

practice of the elementary schools of perhaps the four most 
progressive cities of the world, as a basis of comparison upon 
which to judge again the curriculum of our own country. 

While, as has been repeatedly said, such a composite curricu- 
lum is somewhat hypothetical on account of the absence of a 
definitely stated aim, yet it cannot be denied that these tables 
contain the facts of the practical operation of the elementary 
curriculum in the cities correlated. The suggestions for the 
improvement of the content and arrangement of the subject 
matter in the American curriculum which arise from these 
tables are worthy of consideration, so long as it is granted 
that real facts are more useful than ideal aims, however desir- 
able. To know what people are doing and how they are doing 
it, is worth more to men whose business it is to bring things 
to pass than what men are aiming at and what they would like 
to do. 

These two tables should be accorded whatever weight is to 
be attached to the results of careful study made by numerous 
experts who are laboring with such educational problems as, 
in the main, are common to us all. While such tables should 
not be given final authority until adopted and tested by 
American educational needs, yet, as has already been shown, 
the largest and most influential principles which control the 
selection and arrangement of the American curriculum, oper- 
ate with equal force in the school systems of other countries, 
the needs of the majority of children who fill the elementary 
schools being much the same in all these countries. These 
common needs call for the application of universal principles, 
and in a sense add to the worth of Tables LXI. and LXIL, 
as suggestive summaries. We believe for these reasons that 
they possess considerable practical importance to the American 
educator. 



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196 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 



Table LXI I. —Showing the Average Number of Minutes of Recitation 
Time per Week devoted to Each Subject in Each Grade in the 
Public Elementary Schools of New York, London, Berlin and 
Paris, and the Average Percentage of Total Time given to Each 
Subject. 



Grade 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Opening Exer- 
cises, Relig- 
ion, or Mor- 
als 


117 


118 


119 


132 


134 


132 


142 


142 


8.86 


3 Writing 


129 


158 


183 


88 


87 


80 


55 


47 


7 


6 Language 1 


428 


455 


446 


408 


399 


388 


366 


365 


27.8 


8 Arithmetic- 


186 


194 


224 


225 


217 


218 


221 


200 


14.4 


9 Geography 


35 


41 


47 


105 


95 


94 


85 


69 


4.9 


10 History 3 


38 


28 


31 


60 


82 


91 


91 


65 


4.4 


14 Nature Study* 


82 


89 


81 


88 


81 


99 


121 


145 


6.7 


16 Physical 

Training 


170 


156 


138 


136 


117 


118 


121 


120 


9.2 


17 Drawing 5 


71 


86 


100 


101 


102 


107 


126 


141 


7.1 


18 Music 


65 


57 


75 


75 


72 


77 


81 


85 


5 


19 Manual Train- 
ing (for Boys) 


55 


65 


65 


64 


70 


39 


50 


45 


4.1 


20 Sewing 


(28) 


(58) 


(93)|(1 


(104) 


(112)|(149) 


(170) 


(7 ) 


Total 


1376 


1450 


1509 


1483 


1456 


1473 


1405 


1454 





Average Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject 
in Each Grade per Week in the Public Elementary Schools of 
New York, London, Berlin and Paris. 6 



1 Opening Exer- 
cises 


8.6 


8.2 


7.9 


9 


9.3 


9 


10 


9.8 




3 Writing 


9.4 


10.9 


12 


6 


6 


5.5 


4 


3.3 




6 Language 


31.3 


31.4 


29.6 


27.6 


27.6 


26.4 


26 


25.2 




8 Arithmetic 


13.6 


13.4 


14.9 


15.2 


15 


14.8 


15.7 


13.8 




9 Geography 


2.6 


2.8 


3.1 


7.1 


6.6 


6.4 


6 


4.8 




10 History 


2.8 


2 


2.1 


4.1 


5.7 


6.2 


6.5 


6.6 | 


14 Nature Study 


6 


6.2 


5.4 


6 


5.6 


6.8 


8.6 


10 




16 Physical 

Training 


12.4 


11 


9.2 


9.2 


8.1 


8 


8.6 


8.3 




17 Drawing 


5.3 


« 


6.6 


6.8 


7.1 


7.3 


9 


9.7 




18 Music 


4.8 


4 


5 


5.1 


5.1 


5.3 


5.8 


5.9 




19 Manual 

Training 7 


4 


4.5 


4.3 


4.8 


4.8 


4.7 


3.2 


3.1 




20 Sewing 


2.1 


4 


6.3 


6.8 


7 


7.7 


10.6 


11.2 





language includes grammar, literature, composition, dictation, reading, 
spelling and memorizing gems. 

• 2 Paris and Berlin give geometry in the three upper grammar grades, while 
New York and London give a small amount of time to algebra in the same 
grades. The time for these subjects in each case, except in New York, is 
not included in these figures. 

3 Civics is included with history in New York and Paris, but is not referred 
to in the London and Berlin tables. 

4 Nature Study includes elementary science, object lessons, and common 
things. 

5 In averaging the time for drawing, sixty minutes of the time assigned 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 197 

in the New York schools under drawing and constructive work were allowed 
for drawing and the remainder for manual training. 

G The eighth grade average in this tahle is partly hypothetical. Paris 
has no eighth grade, but its seventh grade was repeated in getting the eighth 
grade average. 

7 The low percentage for manual training for boys is due to the absence 
of that subject in the Berlin tables. The actual average, therefore, would be 
raised considerably if the total had been divided by three instead of four. 

5. A Suggested Curriculum for Elementary Schools. 

In order to summarize some of the facts believed to be the 
most valuable in the previous pages, this discussion is con- 
cluded by a suggestive program of studies. Table LXIII. dis- 
plays such an epitome of the best that has been developed in 
this study, both of fact and of theory. It is an attempt to 
organize all that has been heretofore mentioned into an organ- 
ically related curriculum. The table is more nearly an embodi- 
ment of the best found in the various curricula given in the 
first four chapters, than of the actual summaries of these 
curricula. It is not to be taken literally, but merely as a 
suggestive scheme, or an approximate construction of a course 
of study for an ordinary city school in America. One of the 
principles most vehemently urged in these pages, would call 
for the readjustment of this ideal to the needs of individual 
localities. Yet it is sometimes worth while to have an ideal, 
even if the actual product constructed by it scarcely resem- 
bles it. 

The patience of the reader will not be exhausted by repeti- 
tion' of the various contingencies necessary to a proper un- 
derstanding of this ideal plan. Neither is it deemed necessary 
to explain in detail why each time allotment is made, nor why 
the allotments are different from those of any single previous 
table. It is enough to say that to the mind of the writer the 
needs of society (using the word in its broadest sense) within 
the probable environment of the child are taken to be a safe 
criterion of measurement of the place of any subject in the 
elementary public school curriculum. The following expla- 
nations, however, of the point of view taken with reference to 



198 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

Table LXIII. — Showing the Number of Minutes per Week and the 
Percentage of Recitation Time for Each Study in Each Grade 
suggested as a Basis of a Proposed Time Table. 



Grade. 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Pet. 


1 Scripture, Open- 
ing Exercises 


120 


130 


140 


145 


150 


150 


150 


150 


10 


2 Reading 


240 


260 


210 


145 


60 


60 


60 


1 


3 Writing 


60 


75 


112 


116 








II 


4 Spelling 


48 


52 


56 


87 


60 






II 


5 Grammar 












45 


60 


60 )■ 27.5 


6 Literature 








72 


90 


120 


120 


195 


1 


7 Oral & Written 
Composition 


72 


78 


112 


87 


90 


75 


60 


45 


J 


8 Arithmetic 


120 


130 


140 


145 225 


225 


225 


150 


12.5 


9 Geography 


124 


52 


70 


116 


150 


150 


150 


150 


7.5 


10 History & 
Civics 


60 


65 


70 


72 


150 


150 


150 


180 


7.5 


14 Nature Study 


120 


130 


140 


101 


75 


75 


75 


75 


7.5 


16 Physical 

Training 1 


60 


65 


70 


72 


150 


150 J 


150 


150 


7v 


17 Drawing 


48 


52 


70 


72 


75 


75 


75 


75| 5 ' 


18 Music 


108 


91 


70 


72 


75 


75 


75 


75| 5 


19 Hand-work 


120 


130 


140 


145 


150 


150 


150 


195| 10 


Total 


1200| 1300 


1400| 1450 


1500 


1500 


1500 


1500| 


Average Percentage of Recitation Time devoted to Each Subject 
in Each Grade. 


1 Scripture, etc. 


10 | 10 


10 


10 | 10 | 10 


10 


10 




2 Reading 


20 | 20 


15 


10 


4 | 4 


4 






3 Writing 


5 | 5 


8 


8 










4 Spelling 


4 | 4 


4 


6 


4 | 








5 Grammar 








1 3 


4 


4 




6 Literature 






5 


6 | 8 


8 


13 




7 Composition 


6 | 6 


8 


6 


6 | 5 


4 


3 




8 Arithmetic 


10 | 10 


10 


10 


15 | 15 


15 


10 




9 Geography 


2 | 4 


5 


8 


10 | 10 


10 


10 




10 History, etc. 


5 | 5 


5 


5 


10 


10 


10 


12 | 


14 Nature Study 


10 


10 


10 | 


5 


5 


5 


5 




16 Physical 

Training 


5 


5 


5 


5 


10 


10 


10 


10 




17 Drawing 


4 


4 


5 | 5 


5 


5 


5 


5 




18 Music 


9 


7 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 




19 Hand-work 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


13 





includes hygiene. 



the content and distribution of certain subjects of instruction 
are necessary for a clear understanding of the various time 
allotments in Table LXIII. 

(1) Reading should be taught by the use of literary readers 
in the second, third and fourth grades, and if taught in the 



PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 199 

grammar grades, geographical and historical readers might be 
used with profit. 

(2) Writing should cease per se by the completion of the 
fourth grade. 

(3) Spelling is always to be taken from the oral, written 
and printed work, and should not receive a special assignment 
after Grade V., but should be taught in connection with other 
subjects. 

(4) Grammar should be inductively developed from the 
beginning of the third grade. A text might be introduced at 
the beginning of the sixth grade. 

(5) Literature should be taught in connection with reading 
through the fourth grade. It should be a separate subject 
from the beginning of the fourth grade. 

(6) Composition work should begin as early as possible and 
increase with each advancing grade in time allotment. 

(7) Arithmetic should deal with the quantitative aspect of 
social activities as early as the child can do concrete work, 
i. e., from the first. 

(8) Home geography should be studied in connection with 
nature study, school excursions, school gardens, weather ob- 
servations, etc., in the first and second grades. A text on home 
geography should be given during the third year. The regular 
elementary and advanced courses in geography should then 
be taken. 

(9) In history, historical and biographical stories should 
be given in Grades I. and II. Local history should be used in 
the third grade, and in the upper grades the usual historical 
works. 

(10) Civics is a development connected with history and 
should increase in importance in the upper grades. 

(11) Physical culture does not include recess periods, 
which should be several in number. Organized games are pre- 
supposed in these recess periods. 



200 PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULA. 

(12) Handwork for boys and that for girls need not con- 
tain the same subject matter, and their recitation periods in 
this subject need not occur at the same time. 



JUN ~8 1905 



